diff --git a/pkg/build/pipeline.go b/pkg/build/pipeline.go
index 83e59aa68..aa821b950 100644
--- a/pkg/build/pipeline.go
+++ b/pkg/build/pipeline.go
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ func NewSubstitutionMap(cfg *config.Configuration, arch apko_types.Architecture,
 		config.SubstitutionPackageVersion:     pkg.Version,
 		config.SubstitutionPackageEpoch:       strconv.FormatUint(pkg.Epoch, 10),
 		config.SubstitutionPackageFullVersion: fmt.Sprintf("%s-r%s", config.SubstitutionPackageVersion, config.SubstitutionPackageEpoch),
+		config.SubstitutionPackageSrcdir:      "/home/build",
 		config.SubstitutionTargetsOutdir:      "/home/build/melange-out",
 		config.SubstitutionTargetsDestdir:     fmt.Sprintf("/home/build/melange-out/%s", pkg.Name),
 		config.SubstitutionTargetsContextdir:  fmt.Sprintf("/home/build/melange-out/%s", pkg.Name),
diff --git a/pkg/config/vars.go b/pkg/config/vars.go
index 45699a002..3cb1ae628 100644
--- a/pkg/config/vars.go
+++ b/pkg/config/vars.go
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ const (
 	SubstitutionPackageFullVersion    = "${{package.full-version}}"
 	SubstitutionPackageEpoch          = "${{package.epoch}}"
 	SubstitutionPackageDescription    = "${{package.description}}"
+	SubstitutionPackageSrcdir         = "${{package.srcdir}}"
 	SubstitutionTargetsOutdir         = "${{targets.outdir}}"
 	SubstitutionTargetsDestdir        = "${{targets.destdir}}"
 	SubstitutionTargetsContextdir     = "${{targets.contextdir}}"