diff --git a/lib/config.cc b/lib/config.cc
index c079d752..8bce7ba8 100644
--- a/lib/config.cc
+++ b/lib/config.cc
@@ -245,3 +245,37 @@ _notmuch_config_load_from_database (notmuch_database_t *notmuch)
 
     return status;
 }
+
+notmuch_status_t
+_notmuch_config_load_from_file (notmuch_database_t *notmuch,
+				GKeyFile *file)
+{
+    notmuch_status_t status = NOTMUCH_STATUS_SUCCESS;
+    gchar **groups,**keys, *val;
+
+    if (notmuch->config == NULL)
+	notmuch->config = _notmuch_string_map_create (notmuch);
+
+    if (unlikely(notmuch->config == NULL)) {
+	status = NOTMUCH_STATUS_OUT_OF_MEMORY;
+	goto DONE;
+    }
+
+    for (groups = g_key_file_get_groups (file, NULL); *groups; groups++) {
+	for (keys = g_key_file_get_keys (file, *groups, NULL, NULL); *keys; keys++) {
+	    char *absolute_key = talloc_asprintf(notmuch, "%s.%s", *groups,  *keys);
+	    val = g_key_file_get_value (file, *groups, *keys, NULL);
+	    if (! val) {
+		status = NOTMUCH_STATUS_FILE_ERROR;
+		goto DONE;
+	    }
+	    _notmuch_string_map_set (notmuch->config, absolute_key, val);
+	    talloc_free (absolute_key);
+	    if (status)
+		goto DONE;
+	}
+    }
+
+ DONE:
+    return status;
+}
diff --git a/lib/notmuch-private.h b/lib/notmuch-private.h
index 969caac0..40b1a855 100644
--- a/lib/notmuch-private.h
+++ b/lib/notmuch-private.h
@@ -707,6 +707,9 @@ struct _notmuch_indexopts {
 /* config.cc */
 notmuch_status_t
 _notmuch_config_load_from_database (notmuch_database_t * db);
+
+notmuch_status_t
+_notmuch_config_load_from_file (notmuch_database_t * db, GKeyFile *file);
 NOTMUCH_END_DECLS
 
 #ifdef __cplusplus
diff --git a/lib/notmuch.h b/lib/notmuch.h
index c66e78b1..9346640a 100644
--- a/lib/notmuch.h
+++ b/lib/notmuch.h
@@ -301,53 +301,139 @@ typedef enum {
 } notmuch_database_mode_t;
 
 /**
- * Open an existing notmuch database located at 'path'.
- *
- * The database should have been created at some time in the past,
- * (not necessarily by this process), by calling
- * notmuch_database_create with 'path'. By default the database should be
- * opened for reading only. In order to write to the database you need to
- * pass the NOTMUCH_DATABASE_MODE_READ_WRITE mode.
- *
- * An existing notmuch database can be identified by the presence of a
- * directory named ".notmuch" below 'path'.
- *
- * The caller should call notmuch_database_destroy when finished with
- * this database.
- *
- * In case of any failure, this function returns an error status and
- * sets *database to NULL (after printing an error message on stderr).
- *
- * Return value:
- *
- * NOTMUCH_STATUS_SUCCESS: Successfully opened the database.
- *
- * NOTMUCH_STATUS_NULL_POINTER: The given 'path' argument is NULL.
- *
- * NOTMUCH_STATUS_OUT_OF_MEMORY: Out of memory.
- *
- * NOTMUCH_STATUS_FILE_ERROR: An error occurred trying to open the
- *	database file (such as permission denied, or file not found,
- *	etc.), or the database version is unknown.
- *
- * NOTMUCH_STATUS_XAPIAN_EXCEPTION: A Xapian exception occurred.
+ * Deprecated alias for notmuch_database_open_with_config with
+ * config_path=error_message=NULL
+ * @deprecated Deprecated as of libnotmuch 5.4 (notmuch 0.32)
  */
+/* NOTMUCH_DEPRECATED(5, 4) */
 notmuch_status_t
 notmuch_database_open (const char *path,
 		       notmuch_database_mode_t mode,
 		       notmuch_database_t **database);
 /**
- * Like notmuch_database_open, except optionally return an error
- * message. This message is allocated by malloc and should be freed by
- * the caller.
+ * Deprecated alias for notmuch_database_open_with_config with
+ * config_path=NULL
+ *
+ * @deprecated Deprecated as of libnotmuch 5.4 (notmuch 0.32)
+ *
  */
-
+/* NOTMUCH_DEPRECATED(5, 4) */
 notmuch_status_t
 notmuch_database_open_verbose (const char *path,
 			       notmuch_database_mode_t mode,
 			       notmuch_database_t **database,
 			       char **error_message);
 
+/**
+ * Open an existing notmuch database located at 'database_path', using
+ * configuration in 'config_path'.
+ *
+ * @param[in]	database_path
+ * @parblock
+ * Path to existing database.
+ *
+ * A notmuch database is a Xapian database containing appropriate
+ * metadata.
+ *
+ * The database should have been created at some time in the past,
+ * (not necessarily by this process), by calling
+ * notmuch_database_create.
+ *
+ * If 'database_path' is NULL, use the location specified
+ *
+ * - in the environment variable NOTMUCH_DATABASE, if non-empty
+ *
+ * - in a configuration file, located as described under 'config_path'
+ *
+ * - by $XDG_DATA_HOME/notmuch/$PROFILE where XDG_DATA_HOME defaults
+ *   to "$HOME/.local/share" and PROFILE as as discussed in
+ *   'profile'
+ *
+ * If 'database_path' is non-NULL, but does not appear to be a Xapian
+ * database, check for a directory '.notmuch/xapian' below
+ * 'database_path' (this is the behavior of
+ * notmuch_database_open_verbose pre-0.32).
+ *
+ * @endparblock
+ * @param[in]	mode
+ * @parblock
+ * Mode to open database. Use one of #NOTMUCH_DATABASE_MODE_READ_WRITE
+ * or #NOTMUCH_DATABASE_MODE_READ_ONLY
+ *
+ * @endparblock
+ * @param[in]  config_path
+ * @parblock
+ * Path to config file.
+ *
+ * Config file is key-value, with mandatory sections. See
+ * <em>notmuch-config(5)</em> for more information. The key-value pair
+ * overrides the corresponding configuration data stored in the
+ * database (see <em>notmuch_database_get_config</em>)
+ *
+ * If <em>config_path</em> is NULL use the path specified
+ *
+ * - in environment variable <em>NOTMUCH_CONFIG</em>, if non-empty
+ *
+ * - by  <em>XDG_CONFIG_HOME</em>/notmuch/ where
+ *   XDG_CONFIG_HOME defaults to "$HOME/.config".
+ *
+ * - by $HOME/.notmuch-config
+ *
+ * If <em>config_path</em> is "" (empty string) then do not
+ * open any configuration file.
+ * @endparblock
+ * @param[in] profile:
+ * @parblock
+ * Name of profile (configuration/database variant).
+ *
+ * If non-NULL, append to the directory / file path determined for
+ * <em>config_path</em> and <em>database_path</em>.
+ *
+ * If NULL then use
+ * - environment variable NOTMUCH_PROFILE if defined,
+ * - otherwise "default" for directories and "" (empty string) for paths.
+ *
+ * @endparblock
+ * @param[out] database
+ * @parblock
+ * Pointer to database object. May not be NULL.
+ *
+ * The caller should call notmuch_database_destroy when finished with
+ * this database.
+ *
+ * In case of any failure, this function returns an error status and
+ * sets *database to NULL.
+ *
+ * @endparblock
+ * @param[out] error_message
+ * If non-NULL, store error message from opening the database.
+ * Any such message is allocated by \a malloc(3) and should be freed
+ * by the caller.
+ *
+ * @retval NOTMUCH_STATUS_SUCCESS: Successfully opened the database.
+ *
+ * @retval NOTMUCH_STATUS_NULL_POINTER: The given \a database
+ * argument is NULL.
+ *
+ * @retval NOTMUCH_STATUS_OUT_OF_MEMORY: Out of memory.
+ *
+ * @retval NOTMUCH_STATUS_FILE_ERROR: An error occurred trying to open the
+ *	database or config file (such as permission denied, or file not found,
+ *	etc.), or the database version is unknown.
+ *
+ * @retval NOTMUCH_STATUS_XAPIAN_EXCEPTION: A Xapian exception occurred.
+ *
+ * @since libnotmuch 5.4 (notmuch 0.32)
+ */
+
+notmuch_status_t
+notmuch_database_open_with_config (const char *database_path,
+				   notmuch_database_mode_t mode,
+				   const char *config_path,
+				   const char *profile,
+				   notmuch_database_t **database,
+				   char **error_message);
+
 /**
  * Retrieve last status string for given database.
  *
diff --git a/lib/open.cc b/lib/open.cc
index 0001794a..7acaea7b 100644
--- a/lib/open.cc
+++ b/lib/open.cc
@@ -32,30 +32,57 @@ notmuch_database_open_verbose (const char *path,
 			       notmuch_database_mode_t mode,
 			       notmuch_database_t **database,
 			       char **status_string)
+{
+    return notmuch_database_open_with_config (path, mode, "", NULL,
+					      database, status_string);
+}
+
+notmuch_status_t
+notmuch_database_open_with_config (const char *database_path,
+				   notmuch_database_mode_t mode,
+				   const char *config_path,
+				   unused(const char *profile),
+				   notmuch_database_t **database,
+				   char **status_string)
 {
     notmuch_status_t status = NOTMUCH_STATUS_SUCCESS;
     void *local = talloc_new (NULL);
     notmuch_database_t *notmuch = NULL;
     char *notmuch_path, *xapian_path, *incompat_features;
+    char *configured_database_path = NULL;
     char *message = NULL;
     struct stat st;
     int err;
     unsigned int version;
+    GKeyFile *key_file = NULL;
     static int initialized = 0;
 
-    if (path == NULL) {
+    /* XXX TODO: default locations for NULL case, handle profiles */
+    if (config_path != NULL && ! EMPTY_STRING (config_path)) {
+	key_file = g_key_file_new ();
+	if (! g_key_file_load_from_file (key_file, config_path, G_KEY_FILE_NONE, NULL)) {
+	    status = NOTMUCH_STATUS_FILE_ERROR;
+	    goto DONE;
+	}
+	configured_database_path = g_key_file_get_value (key_file, "database", "path", NULL);
+    }
+
+    if (database_path == NULL)
+	database_path = configured_database_path;
+
+    if (database_path == NULL) {
 	message = strdup ("Error: Cannot open a database for a NULL path.\n");
 	status = NOTMUCH_STATUS_NULL_POINTER;
 	goto DONE;
     }
 
-    if (path[0] != '/') {
+    if (database_path[0] != '/') {
 	message = strdup ("Error: Database path must be absolute.\n");
 	status = NOTMUCH_STATUS_PATH_ERROR;
 	goto DONE;
     }
 
-    if (! (notmuch_path = talloc_asprintf (local, "%s/%s", path, ".notmuch"))) {
+    if (! (notmuch_path = talloc_asprintf (local, "%s/%s", database_path, ".notmuch"))) {
 	message = strdup ("Out of memory\n");
 	status = NOTMUCH_STATUS_OUT_OF_MEMORY;
 	goto DONE;
@@ -89,8 +116,8 @@ notmuch_database_open_verbose (const char *path,
     notmuch = talloc_zero (NULL, notmuch_database_t);
     notmuch->exception_reported = false;
     notmuch->status_string = NULL;
-    notmuch->path = talloc_strdup (notmuch, path);
-    notmuch->config = NULL;
+    notmuch->path = talloc_strdup (notmuch, database_path);
+
     strip_trailing (notmuch->path, '/');
 
     notmuch->writable_xapian_db = NULL;
@@ -185,6 +212,11 @@ notmuch_database_open_verbose (const char *path,
 	if (status)
 	    goto DONE;
 
+	if (key_file)
+	    status = _notmuch_config_load_from_file (notmuch, key_file);
+	if (status)
+	    goto DONE;
+
 	status = _notmuch_database_setup_standard_query_fields (notmuch);
 	if (status)
 	    goto DONE;
diff --git a/test/T562-lib-database.sh b/test/T562-lib-database.sh
index 887851dd..db251fe7 100755
--- a/test/T562-lib-database.sh
+++ b/test/T562-lib-database.sh
@@ -343,12 +343,12 @@ cat c_head - c_tail <<'EOF' | test_C ${MAIL_DIR}
         char *result;
         EXPECT0(notmuch_database_close (db));
         stat = notmuch_database_get_config (db, "foo", &result);
-        printf("%d\n",  stat == NOTMUCH_STATUS_XAPIAN_EXCEPTION);
+        printf("%d\n",  stat == NOTMUCH_STATUS_SUCCESS);
     }
 EOF
 cat <<EOF > EXPECTED
 == stdout ==
-0
+1
 == stderr ==
 EOF
 test_expect_equal_file EXPECTED OUTPUT
diff --git a/test/T590-libconfig.sh b/test/T590-libconfig.sh
index 8c34acf9..5fb1bb87 100755
--- a/test/T590-libconfig.sh
+++ b/test/T590-libconfig.sh
@@ -16,7 +16,12 @@ int main (int argc, char** argv)
    char *val;
    notmuch_status_t stat;
 
-   EXPECT0(notmuch_database_open (argv[1], NOTMUCH_DATABASE_MODE_READ_WRITE, &db));
+   EXPECT0(notmuch_database_open_with_config (argv[1],
+                                              NOTMUCH_DATABASE_MODE_READ_WRITE,
+                                              argv[2],
+                                              NULL,
+                                              &db,
+                                              NULL));
 
 EOF
 
@@ -26,7 +31,7 @@ cat <<EOF > c_tail
 EOF
 
 test_begin_subtest "notmuch_database_{set,get}_config"
-cat c_head - c_tail <<'EOF' | test_C ${MAIL_DIR}
+cat c_head - c_tail <<'EOF' | test_C ${MAIL_DIR} ${NOTMUCH_CONFIG}
 {
    EXPECT0(notmuch_database_set_config (db, "test.key1", "testvalue1"));
    EXPECT0(notmuch_database_set_config (db, "test.key2", "testvalue2"));
@@ -46,7 +51,7 @@ test_expect_equal_file EXPECTED OUTPUT
 
 
 test_begin_subtest "notmuch_database_get_config_list: empty list"
-cat c_head - c_tail <<'EOF' | test_C ${MAIL_DIR}
+cat c_head - c_tail <<'EOF' | test_C ${MAIL_DIR} ${NOTMUCH_CONFIG}
 {
    notmuch_config_list_t *list;
    EXPECT0(notmuch_database_get_config_list (db, "nonexistent", &list));
@@ -78,7 +83,7 @@ EOF
 test_expect_equal_file EXPECTED OUTPUT
 
 test_begin_subtest "notmuch_database_get_config_list: all pairs"
-cat c_head - c_tail <<'EOF' | test_C ${MAIL_DIR}
+cat c_head - c_tail <<'EOF' | test_C ${MAIL_DIR} ${NOTMUCH_CONFIG}
 {
    notmuch_config_list_t *list;
    EXPECT0(notmuch_database_set_config (db, "zzzafter", "afterval"));
@@ -123,7 +128,7 @@ EOF
 test_expect_equal_file EXPECTED OUTPUT
 
 test_begin_subtest "notmuch_database_get_config_list: one prefix"
-cat c_head - c_tail <<'EOF' | test_C ${MAIL_DIR}
+cat c_head - c_tail <<'EOF' | test_C ${MAIL_DIR} ${NOTMUCH_CONFIG}
 {
    notmuch_config_list_t *list;
    EXPECT0(notmuch_database_get_config_list (db, "test.key", &list));
@@ -142,7 +147,7 @@ EOF
 test_expect_equal_file EXPECTED OUTPUT
 
 test_begin_subtest "dump config"
-cat c_head - c_tail <<'EOF' | test_C ${MAIL_DIR}
+cat c_head - c_tail <<'EOF' | test_C ${MAIL_DIR} ${NOTMUCH_CONFIG}
 {
     EXPECT0(notmuch_database_set_config (db, "key with spaces", "value, with, spaces!"));
 }
@@ -160,7 +165,7 @@ test_expect_equal_file EXPECTED OUTPUT
 
 test_begin_subtest "restore config"
 notmuch dump --include=config >EXPECTED
-cat c_head - c_tail <<'EOF' | test_C ${MAIL_DIR}
+cat c_head - c_tail <<'EOF' | test_C ${MAIL_DIR} ${NOTMUCH_CONFIG}
 {
     EXPECT0(notmuch_database_set_config (db, "test.key1", "mutatedvalue"));
 }
@@ -169,4 +174,24 @@ notmuch restore --include=config <EXPECTED
 notmuch dump --include=config >OUTPUT
 test_expect_equal_file EXPECTED OUTPUT
 
+backup_database
+test_begin_subtest "override config from file"
+notmuch config set test.key1 overridden
+cat c_head - c_tail <<'EOF' | test_C ${MAIL_DIR} ${NOTMUCH_CONFIG}
+{
+   EXPECT0(notmuch_database_get_config (db, "test.key1", &val));
+   printf("test.key1 = %s\n", val);
+   EXPECT0(notmuch_database_get_config (db, "test.key2", &val));
+   printf("test.key2 = %s\n", val);
+}
+EOF
+cat <<'EOF' >EXPECTED
+== stdout ==
+test.key1 = overridden
+test.key2 = testvalue2
+== stderr ==
+EOF
+test_expect_equal_file EXPECTED OUTPUT
+restore_database
+
 test_done