diff --git a/Pmodules/libpbuild.bash b/Pmodules/libpbuild.bash
index 4149896..8d74950 100644
--- a/Pmodules/libpbuild.bash
+++ b/Pmodules/libpbuild.bash
@@ -563,9 +563,11 @@ pbuild::post_configure() {
 	:
 }
 pbuild::configure() {
+	local -- src_dir="${SRC_DIR}"
+	[[ -n "${ModuleConfig['src_dir']}" ]] && src_dir+="/${ModuleConfig['src_dir']}"
 	case "${configure_with}" in
 		autotools )
-        		if [[ ! -r "${SRC_DIR}/configure" ]]; then
+        		if [[ ! -r "${src_dir}/configure" ]]; then
 				std::die 3 \
 					 "%s " "${module_name}/${module_version}:" \
 					 "${FUNCNAME[0]}:" \
@@ -573,7 +575,7 @@ pbuild::configure() {
 			fi
 			;;
 		cmake )
-			if [[ ! -r "${SRC_DIR}/CMakeLists.txt" ]]; then
+			if [[ ! -r "${src_dir}/CMakeLists.txt" ]]; then
 				std::die 3 \
 					 "%s " "${module_name}/${module_version}:" \
 					 "${FUNCNAME[0]}:" \
@@ -586,24 +588,24 @@ pbuild::configure() {
 	for arg in "${CONFIGURE_ARGS[@]}"; do
 		config_args+=( "$(envsubst <<<"${arg}")" )
 	done
-	if [[ -r "${SRC_DIR}/configure" ]] && \
+	if [[ -r "${src_dir}/configure" ]] && \
 		   [[ "${configure_with}" == 'auto' ]] || \
 			   [[ "${configure_with}" == 'autotools' ]]; then
-		std::info "%s " "${SRC_DIR}/configure --prefix=${PREFIX} ${config_args[@]}"
-		"${SRC_DIR}/configure" \
+		std::info "%s " "${src_dir}/configure --prefix=${PREFIX} ${config_args[@]}"
+		"${src_dir}/configure" \
 			  --prefix="${PREFIX}" \
 			  "${config_args[@]}" || \
 			std::die 3 \
 				 "%s " "${module_name}/${module_version}:" \
 				 "configure failed"
-	elif [[ -r "${SRC_DIR}/CMakeLists.txt" ]] && \
+	elif [[ -r "${src_dir}/CMakeLists.txt" ]] && \
 		     [[ "${configure_with}" == 'auto' ]] || \
 			     [[ "${configure_with}" == "cmake" ]]; then
 		# note: in most/many cases a cmake module is used!
 		cmake \
 			-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="${PREFIX}" \
 			"${config_args[@]}" \
-			"${SRC_DIR}" || \
+			"${src_dir}" || \
 			std::die 3 \
 				 "%s " "${module_name}/${module_version}:" \
 				 "cmake failed"
diff --git a/Pmodules/modbuild.in b/Pmodules/modbuild.in
index 2d5e27d..614237b 100644
--- a/Pmodules/modbuild.in
+++ b/Pmodules/modbuild.in
@@ -487,6 +487,7 @@ declare -A Yaml_default_config=(
 	['relstage']='unstable'		# !!str
 	['runtime_deps']=''		# !!seq of strings
 	['script']='build'		# !!str
+	['src_dir']=''    		# !!str
 	['sub_packages']=''		# !!map
 	['suffix']=''			# !!str
 	['systems']=''			# !!seq of strings
@@ -716,7 +717,7 @@ build_modules_yaml_v1(){
 							;;
 					esac
 					;;
-				default_variant | download_dir | group | modulefile | overlay | script | suffix )
+				default_variant | download_dir | group | modulefile | overlay | script | src_dir | suffix )
 					yml::get_value \
 						value \
 						yaml_input \