diff --git a/testing/release/l10n/verify_l10n.sh b/testing/release/l10n/verify_l10n.sh
index 4eb96b6c6a8..837dd38ce45 100755
--- a/testing/release/l10n/verify_l10n.sh
+++ b/testing/release/l10n/verify_l10n.sh
@@ -23,13 +23,14 @@ do
   do
     # strip the directory portion
     package=`basename $package`
-    locale=`echo $package | sed -e "s/\.${platform}.*//" -e 's/.*\.//'`
+    # this cannot be named $locale, because unpack_build will overwrite it
+    $l=`echo $package | sed -e "s/\.${platform}.*//" -e 's/.*\.//'`
     rm -rf target/*
     unpack_build $platform target $release/$package
     # check for read-only files
     find "./target" -not -perm -u=w -exec echo "FAIL read-only file" {} \;
     mkdir -p $release/diffs
-    diff -r source target > $release/diffs/$platform.$locale.diff
+    diff -r source target > $release/diffs/$platform.$l.diff
   done
 done