diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 039e2fbe..87bbee6a 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -4,10 +4,17 @@ SUBDIRS = lib/libalpm src/util src/pacman scripts doc etc po pactest contrib
 #   AUTHORS, COPYING, NEWS, README
 EXTRA_DIST = HACKING
 
+# run the pactest test suite
 check-local:  src/pacman
 	python $(top_srcdir)/pactest/pactest.py --debug=1 \
 		--test $(top_srcdir)/pactest/tests/*.py \
 		-p $(top_builddir)/src/pacman/pacman
 	rm -rf $(top_builddir)/root
 
+# create the pacman DB and cache directories upon install
+install-data-local:
+	for dir in "$(DESTDIR)$(localstatedir)/lib/pacman" "$(DESTDIR)$(localstatedir)/cache/pacman/pkg"; do \
+	  test -z "$$dir" || $(MKDIR_P) "$$dir"; \
+	done
+
 # vim:set ts=2 sw=2 noet: