diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index e220f8b87..71e691afd 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@
 ## Process this file with automake to produce Makefile.in
 
 ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4
-DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS = --enable-symcryptrun --enable-g13 \
+AM_DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS = --enable-gnupg-builddir-envvar \
+  --enable-symcryptrun --enable-g13 \
   --enable-gpg2-is-gpg --enable-gpgtar --enable-wks-tools --disable-ntbtls
 
 GITLOG_TO_CHANGELOG=gitlog-to-changelog
diff --git a/common/homedir.c b/common/homedir.c
index 6b40bb6bf..3055a322e 100644
--- a/common/homedir.c
+++ b/common/homedir.c
@@ -914,7 +914,7 @@ gnupg_set_builddir (const char *newdir)
 static void
 gnupg_set_builddir_from_env (void)
 {
-#ifdef IS_DEVELOPMENT_VERSION
+#if defined(IS_DEVELOPMENT_VERSION) || defined(ENABLE_GNUPG_BUILDDIR_ENVVAR)
   if (gnupg_build_directory)
     return;
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 1733c5ad7..4b9ceca2f 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1692,6 +1692,21 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE(optimization,
                       CFLAGS=`echo $CFLAGS | sed s/-O[[1-9]]\ /-O0\ /g`
                    fi])
 
+#
+# We do not want support for the GNUPG_BUILDDIR environment variable
+# in a released version.  However, our regression tests suite requires
+# this and thus we build with support for it during "make distcheck".
+# This configure option implements this along with the top Makefile's
+# AM_DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS.
+#
+gnupg_builddir_envvar=no
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(gnupg-builddir-envvar,,
+              gnupg_builddir_envvar=$enableval)
+if test x"$gnupg_builddir_envvar" = x"yes"; then
+   AC_DEFINE(ENABLE_GNUPG_BUILDDIR_ENVVAR, 1,
+      [This is only used with "make distcheck"])
+fi
+
 #
 # Add user CFLAGS.
 #