diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-buildid-cache.c b/tools/perf/builtin-buildid-cache.c
index f8e3d1852029..29ad20e67919 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-buildid-cache.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-buildid-cache.c
@@ -78,8 +78,7 @@ static int __cmd_buildid_cache(void)
 	struct str_node *pos;
 	char debugdir[PATH_MAX];
 
-	snprintf(debugdir, sizeof(debugdir), "%s/%s", getenv("HOME"),
-		 DEBUG_CACHE_DIR);
+	snprintf(debugdir, sizeof(debugdir), "%s", buildid_dir);
 
 	if (add_name_list_str) {
 		list = strlist__new(true, add_name_list_str);
diff --git a/tools/perf/perf-archive.sh b/tools/perf/perf-archive.sh
index 2e7a4f417e20..677e59d62a8d 100644
--- a/tools/perf/perf-archive.sh
+++ b/tools/perf/perf-archive.sh
@@ -7,7 +7,17 @@ if [ $# -ne 0 ] ; then
 	PERF_DATA=$1
 fi
 
-DEBUGDIR=~/.debug/
+#
+# PERF_BUILDID_DIR environment variable set by perf
+# path to buildid directory, default to $HOME/.debug
+#
+if [ -z $PERF_BUILDID_DIR ]; then
+	PERF_BUILDID_DIR=~/.debug/
+else
+        # append / to make substitutions work
+        PERF_BUILDID_DIR=$PERF_BUILDID_DIR/
+fi
+
 BUILDIDS=$(mktemp /tmp/perf-archive-buildids.XXXXXX)
 NOBUILDID=0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
 
@@ -22,13 +32,13 @@ MANIFEST=$(mktemp /tmp/perf-archive-manifest.XXXXXX)
 
 cut -d ' ' -f 1 $BUILDIDS | \
 while read build_id ; do
-	linkname=$DEBUGDIR.build-id/${build_id:0:2}/${build_id:2}
+	linkname=$PERF_BUILDID_DIR.build-id/${build_id:0:2}/${build_id:2}
 	filename=$(readlink -f $linkname)
-	echo ${linkname#$DEBUGDIR} >> $MANIFEST
-	echo ${filename#$DEBUGDIR} >> $MANIFEST
+	echo ${linkname#$PERF_BUILDID_DIR} >> $MANIFEST
+	echo ${filename#$PERF_BUILDID_DIR} >> $MANIFEST
 done
 
-tar cfj $PERF_DATA.tar.bz2 -C $DEBUGDIR -T $MANIFEST
+tar cfj $PERF_DATA.tar.bz2 -C $PERF_BUILDID_DIR -T $MANIFEST
 rm -f $MANIFEST $BUILDIDS
 echo -e "Now please run:\n"
 echo -e "$ tar xvf $PERF_DATA.tar.bz2 -C ~/.debug\n"
diff --git a/tools/perf/perf.c b/tools/perf/perf.c
index 6e4871191138..cdd6c03f1e14 100644
--- a/tools/perf/perf.c
+++ b/tools/perf/perf.c
@@ -458,6 +458,8 @@ int main(int argc, const char **argv)
 	handle_options(&argv, &argc, NULL);
 	commit_pager_choice();
 	set_debugfs_path();
+	set_buildid_dir();
+
 	if (argc > 0) {
 		if (!prefixcmp(argv[0], "--"))
 			argv[0] += 2;
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/build-id.c b/tools/perf/util/build-id.c
index 70c5cf87d020..5c26e2d314af 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/build-id.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/build-id.c
@@ -43,19 +43,17 @@ struct perf_event_ops build_id__mark_dso_hit_ops = {
 char *dso__build_id_filename(struct dso *self, char *bf, size_t size)
 {
 	char build_id_hex[BUILD_ID_SIZE * 2 + 1];
-	const char *home;
 
 	if (!self->has_build_id)
 		return NULL;
 
 	build_id__sprintf(self->build_id, sizeof(self->build_id), build_id_hex);
-	home = getenv("HOME");
 	if (bf == NULL) {
-		if (asprintf(&bf, "%s/%s/.build-id/%.2s/%s", home,
-			     DEBUG_CACHE_DIR, build_id_hex, build_id_hex + 2) < 0)
+		if (asprintf(&bf, "%s/.build-id/%.2s/%s", buildid_dir,
+			     build_id_hex, build_id_hex + 2) < 0)
 			return NULL;
 	} else
-		snprintf(bf, size, "%s/%s/.build-id/%.2s/%s", home,
-			 DEBUG_CACHE_DIR, build_id_hex, build_id_hex + 2);
+		snprintf(bf, size, "%s/.build-id/%.2s/%s", buildid_dir,
+			 build_id_hex, build_id_hex + 2);
 	return bf;
 }
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/cache.h b/tools/perf/util/cache.h
index 65fe664fddf6..27e9ebe4076e 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/cache.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/cache.h
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ extern int perf_config(config_fn_t fn, void *);
 extern int perf_config_int(const char *, const char *);
 extern int perf_config_bool(const char *, const char *);
 extern int config_error_nonbool(const char *);
+extern const char *perf_config_dirname(const char *, const char *);
 
 /* pager.c */
 extern void setup_pager(void);
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/config.c b/tools/perf/util/config.c
index dabe892d0e53..e02d78cae70f 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/config.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/config.c
@@ -11,6 +11,11 @@
 
 #define MAXNAME (256)
 
+#define DEBUG_CACHE_DIR ".debug"
+
+
+char buildid_dir[MAXPATHLEN]; /* root dir for buildid, binary cache */
+
 static FILE *config_file;
 static const char *config_file_name;
 static int config_linenr;
@@ -127,7 +132,7 @@ static int get_value(config_fn_t fn, void *data, char *name, unsigned int len)
 			break;
 		if (!iskeychar(c))
 			break;
-		name[len++] = tolower(c);
+		name[len++] = c;
 		if (len >= MAXNAME)
 			return -1;
 	}
@@ -327,6 +332,13 @@ int perf_config_bool(const char *name, const char *value)
 	return !!perf_config_bool_or_int(name, value, &discard);
 }
 
+const char *perf_config_dirname(const char *name, const char *value)
+{
+	if (!name)
+		return NULL;
+	return value;
+}
+
 static int perf_default_core_config(const char *var __used, const char *value __used)
 {
 	/* Add other config variables here and to Documentation/config.txt. */
@@ -428,3 +440,53 @@ int config_error_nonbool(const char *var)
 {
 	return error("Missing value for '%s'", var);
 }
+
+struct buildid_dir_config {
+	char *dir;
+};
+
+static int buildid_dir_command_config(const char *var, const char *value,
+				      void *data)
+{
+	struct buildid_dir_config *c = data;
+	const char *v;
+
+	/* same dir for all commands */
+	if (!prefixcmp(var, "buildid.") && !strcmp(var + 8, "dir")) {
+		v = perf_config_dirname(var, value);
+		if (!v)
+			return -1;
+		strncpy(c->dir, v, MAXPATHLEN-1);
+		c->dir[MAXPATHLEN-1] = '\0';
+	}
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static void check_buildid_dir_config(void)
+{
+	struct buildid_dir_config c;
+	c.dir = buildid_dir;
+	perf_config(buildid_dir_command_config, &c);
+}
+
+void set_buildid_dir(void)
+{
+	buildid_dir[0] = '\0';
+
+	/* try config file */
+	check_buildid_dir_config();
+
+	/* default to $HOME/.debug */
+	if (buildid_dir[0] == '\0') {
+		char *v = getenv("HOME");
+		if (v) {
+			snprintf(buildid_dir, MAXPATHLEN-1, "%s/%s",
+				 v, DEBUG_CACHE_DIR);
+		} else {
+			strncpy(buildid_dir, DEBUG_CACHE_DIR, MAXPATHLEN-1);
+		}
+		buildid_dir[MAXPATHLEN-1] = '\0';
+	}
+	/* for communicating with external commands */
+	setenv("PERF_BUILDID_DIR", buildid_dir, 1);
+}
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/header.c b/tools/perf/util/header.c
index 1f62435f96c2..4a6a4b3a4ab7 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/header.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/header.c
@@ -385,8 +385,7 @@ static int perf_session__cache_build_ids(struct perf_session *self)
 	int ret;
 	char debugdir[PATH_MAX];
 
-	snprintf(debugdir, sizeof(debugdir), "%s/%s", getenv("HOME"),
-		 DEBUG_CACHE_DIR);
+	snprintf(debugdir, sizeof(debugdir), "%s", buildid_dir);
 
 	if (mkdir(debugdir, 0755) != 0 && errno != EEXIST)
 		return -1;
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/symbol.h b/tools/perf/util/symbol.h
index 5e02d2c17154..34760a2fc606 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/symbol.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/symbol.h
@@ -9,8 +9,6 @@
 #include <linux/rbtree.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 
-#define DEBUG_CACHE_DIR ".debug"
-
 #ifdef HAVE_CPLUS_DEMANGLE
 extern char *cplus_demangle(const char *, int);
 
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/util.h b/tools/perf/util/util.h
index 4e8b6b0c551c..de61441b6dd7 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/util.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/util.h
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@
 
 extern const char *graph_line;
 extern const char *graph_dotted_line;
+extern char buildid_dir[];
 
 /* On most systems <limits.h> would have given us this, but
  * not on some systems (e.g. GNU/Hurd).
@@ -152,6 +153,7 @@ extern void warning(const char *err, ...) __attribute__((format (printf, 1, 2)))
 extern void set_die_routine(void (*routine)(const char *err, va_list params) NORETURN);
 
 extern int prefixcmp(const char *str, const char *prefix);
+extern void set_buildid_dir(void);
 
 static inline const char *skip_prefix(const char *str, const char *prefix)
 {