diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index b526d3b5..651d2a50 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ PREFIX?=/usr
 LIBDIR?=$(PREFIX)/lib
 SBINDIR?=/sbin
 CONFDIR?=/etc/iproute2
+NETNS_RUN_DIR?=/var/run/netns
+NETNS_ETC_DIR?=/etc/netns
 DATADIR?=$(PREFIX)/share
 HDRDIR?=$(PREFIX)/include/iproute2
 DOCDIR?=$(DATADIR)/doc/iproute2
@@ -34,7 +36,9 @@ ifneq ($(SHARED_LIBS),y)
 DEFINES+= -DNO_SHARED_LIBS
 endif
 
-DEFINES+=-DCONFDIR=\"$(CONFDIR)\"
+DEFINES+=-DCONFDIR=\"$(CONFDIR)\" \
+         -DNETNS_RUN_DIR=\"$(NETNS_RUN_DIR)\" \
+         -DNETNS_ETC_DIR=\"$(NETNS_ETC_DIR)\"
 
 #options for decnet
 ADDLIB+=dnet_ntop.o dnet_pton.o
diff --git a/include/namespace.h b/include/namespace.h
index aed7ce08..e47f9b5d 100644
--- a/include/namespace.h
+++ b/include/namespace.h
@@ -8,8 +8,13 @@
 #include <sys/syscall.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 
+#ifndef NETNS_RUN_DIR
 #define NETNS_RUN_DIR "/var/run/netns"
+#endif
+
+#ifndef NETNS_ETC_DIR
 #define NETNS_ETC_DIR "/etc/netns"
+#endif
 
 #ifndef CLONE_NEWNET
 #define CLONE_NEWNET 0x40000000	/* New network namespace (lo, device, names sockets, etc) */