diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 3c44e369..5b09654f 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 xbps-0.37 (???):
 
+ * Added support for system and configuration repository directories, as
+   explained in GH #39 (https://github.com/voidlinux/xbps/issues/39).
+
+   The system repository directory set to <prefix>/share/xbps/repo.d contains
+   system repository configuration files (.conf) that can be overrided by the admin
+   in <sysconfdir>/xbps/repo.d bearing the same file name.
+
  * xbps-create(8): new option `-t, --tags` to specify a list of tags
    (categories) the package should be part of. This is just for metadata
    purposes and querying packages by tags in the future.
diff --git a/include/Makefile b/include/Makefile
index 4b953bc5..99adb27b 100644
--- a/include/Makefile
+++ b/include/Makefile
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ INCS =	xbps.h
 
 .PHONY: all
 all:
-	sed -e "s|@@VERSION@@|${VERSION}|g" ${INCS}.in > ${INCS}
+	sed -e "s|@@VERSION@@|${VERSION}|g;s|@@PREFIX@@|${PREFIX}|g" ${INCS}.in > ${INCS}
 
 .PHONY: install
 install:
diff --git a/include/xbps.h.in b/include/xbps.h.in
index 7a85e041..f4bd8aec 100644
--- a/include/xbps.h.in
+++ b/include/xbps.h.in
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@
  *
  * This header documents the full API for the XBPS Library.
  */
-#define XBPS_API_VERSION	"20140420"
+#define XBPS_API_VERSION	"20140530"
 
 #ifndef XBPS_VERSION
  #define XBPS_VERSION		"UNSET"
@@ -70,7 +70,10 @@
  */
 #define XBPS_SYSDIR            "/xbps"
 #ifndef XBPS_SYSCONF_PATH
-#define XBPS_SYSCONF_PATH      "/etc" XBPS_SYSDIR
+# define XBPS_SYSCONF_PATH      "/etc" XBPS_SYSDIR
+#endif
+#ifndef XBPS_SYSDEFCONF_PATH
+# define XBPS_SYSDEFCONF_PATH	"@@PREFIX@@/share" XBPS_SYSDIR
 #endif
 
 /** 
@@ -91,6 +94,18 @@
  */
 #define XBPS_VPKG_PATH		XBPS_SYSCONF_PATH "/virtualpkg.d"
 
+/**
+ * @def XBPS_REPOD_PATH
+ * Configuration directory to store repository configuration files.
+ */
+#define XBPS_REPOD_PATH 	XBPS_SYSCONF_PATH "/repo.d"
+
+/**
+ * @def XBPS_SYS_REPOD_PATH
+ * System directory to store repository configuration files.
+ */
+#define XBPS_SYS_REPOD_PATH 	XBPS_SYSDEFCONF_PATH "/repo.d"
+
 /**
  * @def XBPS_PKGDB
  * Filename for the package database.
diff --git a/lib/initend.c b/lib/initend.c
index 283f01d9..72ca539e 100644
--- a/lib/initend.c
+++ b/lib/initend.c
@@ -283,7 +283,7 @@ parse_vpkgdir(struct xbps_handle *xhp)
 	if ((dirp = opendir(xhp->virtualpkgdir)) == NULL)
 		return 0;
 
-	xbps_dbg_printf(xhp, "Parsing virtualpkg directory: %s\n", xhp->virtualpkgdir);
+	xbps_dbg_printf(xhp, "Processing virtualpkg directory: %s\n", xhp->virtualpkgdir);
 
 	while ((dp = readdir(dirp)) != NULL) {
 		if ((strcmp(dp->d_name, "..") == 0) ||
@@ -307,6 +307,83 @@ parse_vpkgdir(struct xbps_handle *xhp)
 	return rv;
 }
 
+static int
+parse_repodir(struct xbps_handle *xhp)
+{
+	DIR *dirp;
+	struct dirent *dp;
+	char *ext, conf[PATH_MAX];
+	int rv = 0;
+
+	/*
+	 * Read all repository configuration files stored in the system
+	 * repo.d directory.
+	 */
+	if ((dirp = opendir(XBPS_SYS_REPOD_PATH)) == NULL)
+		return 0;
+
+	xbps_dbg_printf(xhp, "Processing system repo.d directory: %s\n", XBPS_SYS_REPOD_PATH);
+
+	while ((dp = readdir(dirp)) != NULL) {
+		if ((strcmp(dp->d_name, "..") == 0) ||
+		    (strcmp(dp->d_name, ".") == 0))
+			continue;
+
+		/* only process .conf files, ignore something else */
+		if ((ext = strrchr(dp->d_name, '.')) == NULL)
+			continue;
+		if (strcmp(ext, ".conf")) {
+			xbps_dbg_printf(xhp, "%s: ignoring %s\n", XBPS_SYS_REPOD_PATH, dp->d_name);
+			continue;
+		}
+		/* if the same file exists in configuration directory, ignore it */
+		snprintf(conf, sizeof(conf), "%s/%s", XBPS_REPOD_PATH, dp->d_name);
+		if (access(conf, R_OK) == 0) {
+			xbps_dbg_printf(xhp, "%s: ignoring %s (exists in confdir)\n", XBPS_SYS_REPOD_PATH, dp->d_name);
+			continue;
+		}
+		/* parse repo conf file */
+		snprintf(conf, sizeof(conf), "%s/%s", XBPS_SYS_REPOD_PATH, dp->d_name);
+		if ((rv = parse_file(xhp, conf, false, false)) != 0) {
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+	closedir(dirp);
+	if (rv != 0)
+		return rv;
+
+	/*
+	 * Read all repository configuration files stored in the configuration
+	 * repo.d directory.
+	 */
+	if ((dirp = opendir(XBPS_REPOD_PATH)) == NULL)
+		return 0;
+
+	xbps_dbg_printf(xhp, "Processing configuration repo.d directory: %s\n", XBPS_REPOD_PATH);
+
+	while ((dp = readdir(dirp)) != NULL) {
+		if ((strcmp(dp->d_name, "..") == 0) ||
+		    (strcmp(dp->d_name, ".") == 0))
+			continue;
+
+		/* only process .conf files, ignore something else */
+		if ((ext = strrchr(dp->d_name, '.')) == NULL)
+			continue;
+		if (strcmp(ext, ".conf")) {
+			xbps_dbg_printf(xhp, "%s: ignoring %s\n", XBPS_REPOD_PATH, dp->d_name);
+			continue;
+		}
+		/* parse repo conf file */
+		snprintf(conf, sizeof(conf), "%s/%s", XBPS_REPOD_PATH, dp->d_name);
+		if ((rv = parse_file(xhp, conf, false, false)) != 0) {
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+	closedir(dirp);
+
+	return rv;
+}
+
 int
 xbps_init(struct xbps_handle *xhp)
 {
@@ -320,6 +397,10 @@ xbps_init(struct xbps_handle *xhp)
 	if (xhp->conffile == NULL)
 		xhp->conffile = XBPS_CONF_DEF;
 
+	/* parse repository configuration files */
+	if ((rv = parse_repodir(xhp)) != 0) {
+		xbps_dbg_printf(xhp, "failed to parse repo.d files: %s\n", strerror(rv));
+	}
 	/* parse configuration file */
 	if ((rv = parse_file(xhp, xhp->conffile, false, false)) != 0) {
 		xbps_dbg_printf(xhp, "failed to read configuration file %s: %s\n",