diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 94edd39c..1e3daabe 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 xbps-0.45 (???):
 
+ * configure: added --dbdir to customize path to pkgdb.
+
  * xbps-uchroot(8): added -o option to pass arguments to the tmpfs mount,
    as is. See mount(8). Useful to specify a size for the temporary tmpfs
    with overlayfs (-O).
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index acabcf5e..feee8ba3 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ for instance \`--prefix=\$HOME'.
 --pkgconfigdir=DIR 	pkg-config directory [EPREFIX/lib/pkgconfig]
 --testsdir=DIR		Test suite directory [EPREFIX/tests]
 --localstatedir=DIR	Local state directory to store XBPS db files [/var]
+--dbdir=DIR		Path to the pkgdb directory [LOCALSTATEDIR/db/xbps]
 
 --verbose 		Disable silent build to see compilation details
 --enable-api-docs 	Install XBPS API Library documentation (default disabled)
@@ -65,6 +66,7 @@ for x; do
 	--localstatedir) LOCALSTATEDIR=$var;;
 	--libdir) LIBDIR=$var;;
 	--datadir|--infodir) ;; # ignore autotools
+	--dbdir) DBDIR=$var;;
 	--enable-api-docs) BUILD_API_DOCS=$var;;
 	--verbose) unset SILENT;;
 	--pkgconfigdir) PKGCONFIGDIR=$var;;
@@ -187,6 +189,7 @@ echo "CPPFLAGS = 	-I. -I\$(TOPDIR) -I\$(TOPDIR)/include" >>$CONFIG_MK
 echo "CPPFLAGS +=	-DXBPS_SYSCONF_PATH=\\\"${ETCDIR}\\\"" >>$CONFIG_MK
 echo "CPPFLAGS +=	-DXBPS_SYSDEFCONF_PATH=\\\"${SHAREDIR}/xbps.d\\\"" >>$CONFIG_MK
 echo "CPPFLAGS +=	-DXBPS_VERSION=\\\"${VERSION}\\\"" >>$CONFIG_MK
+echo "CPPFLAGS +=	-DXBPS_META_PATH=\\\"${DBDIR}\\\"" >>$CONFIG_MK
 echo "CPPFLAGS +=	-D_unused=\"__attribute__((__unused__))\"" >>$CONFIG_MK
 
 if [ -d .git ]; then
diff --git a/include/xbps.h.in b/include/xbps.h.in
index b037e205..d99179c7 100644
--- a/include/xbps.h.in
+++ b/include/xbps.h.in
@@ -80,7 +80,9 @@
  * @def XBPS_META_PATH
  * Default root PATH to store metadata info.
  */
+#ifndef XBPS_META_PATH
 #define XBPS_META_PATH		"var/db/xbps"
+#endif
 
 /** 
  * @def XBPS_CACHE_PATH