diff --git a/lib/open.cc b/lib/open.cc
index 8fc17caf..0dfd295f 100644
--- a/lib/open.cc
+++ b/lib/open.cc
@@ -545,11 +545,12 @@ notmuch_database_create_with_config (const char *database_path,
 {
     notmuch_status_t status = NOTMUCH_STATUS_SUCCESS;
     notmuch_database_t *notmuch = NULL;
-    char *notmuch_path = NULL;
+    const char *notmuch_path = NULL;
     char *message = NULL;
     GKeyFile *key_file = NULL;
     void *local = talloc_new (NULL);
     int err;
+    bool split = false;
 
     _init_libs ();
 
@@ -571,20 +572,38 @@ notmuch_database_create_with_config (const char *database_path,
 
     _set_database_path (notmuch, database_path);
 
-    notmuch_path = talloc_asprintf (local, "%s/%s", database_path, ".notmuch");
+    if (key_file && ! split) {
+	char *mail_root = canonicalize_file_name (
+	    g_key_file_get_value (key_file, "database", "mail_root", NULL));
+	char *db_path = canonicalize_file_name (database_path);
 
-    err = mkdir (notmuch_path, 0755);
-    if (err) {
-	if (errno == EEXIST) {
-	    status = NOTMUCH_STATUS_DATABASE_EXISTS;
-	    talloc_free (notmuch);
-	    notmuch = NULL;
-	} else {
-	    IGNORE_RESULT (asprintf (&message, "Error: Cannot create directory %s: %s.\n",
-				     notmuch_path, strerror (errno)));
-	    status = NOTMUCH_STATUS_FILE_ERROR;
+	split = (mail_root && (0 != strcmp (mail_root, db_path)));
+
+	free (mail_root);
+	free (db_path);
+    }
+
+    if (split) {
+	notmuch_path = database_path;
+    } else {
+	if (! (notmuch_path = talloc_asprintf (local, "%s/%s", database_path, ".notmuch"))) {
+	    status = NOTMUCH_STATUS_OUT_OF_MEMORY;
+	    goto DONE;
+	}
+
+	err = mkdir (notmuch_path, 0755);
+	if (err) {
+	    if (errno == EEXIST) {
+		status = NOTMUCH_STATUS_DATABASE_EXISTS;
+		talloc_free (notmuch);
+		notmuch = NULL;
+	    } else {
+		IGNORE_RESULT (asprintf (&message, "Error: Cannot create directory %s: %s.\n",
+					 notmuch_path, strerror (errno)));
+		status = NOTMUCH_STATUS_FILE_ERROR;
+	    }
+	    goto DONE;
 	}
-	goto DONE;
     }
 
     if (! (notmuch->xapian_path = talloc_asprintf (notmuch, "%s/%s", notmuch_path, "xapian"))) {
@@ -592,6 +611,14 @@ notmuch_database_create_with_config (const char *database_path,
 	goto DONE;
     }
 
+    status = _trial_open (notmuch->xapian_path, &message);
+    if (status == NOTMUCH_STATUS_SUCCESS) {
+	notmuch_database_destroy (notmuch);
+	notmuch = NULL;
+	status = NOTMUCH_STATUS_DATABASE_EXISTS;
+	goto DONE;
+    }
+
     status = _finish_open (notmuch,
 			   profile,
 			   NOTMUCH_DATABASE_MODE_READ_WRITE,
diff --git a/test/T055-path-config.sh b/test/T055-path-config.sh
index c6920ca9..19a8a4ab 100755
--- a/test/T055-path-config.sh
+++ b/test/T055-path-config.sh
@@ -27,9 +27,17 @@ split_config () {
     DATABASE_PATH=$dir
 }
 
+symlink_config () {
+    local dir
+    backup_config
+    dir="$TMP_DIRECTORY/link.$test_count"
+    ln -s $MAIL_DIR $dir
+    notmuch config set database.path $dir
+    notmuch config set database.mail_root $MAIL_DIR
+    unset DATABASE_PATH
+}
 
-
-for config in traditional split; do
+for config in traditional split symlink; do
     # start each set of tests with a known set of messages
     add_email_corpus
 
@@ -41,6 +49,9 @@ for config in traditional split; do
 	    split_config
 	    mv mail/.notmuch/xapian $DATABASE_PATH
 	    ;;
+	symlink)
+	    symlink_config
+	    ;;
     esac
 
     test_begin_subtest "count ($config)"