diff --git a/package/base-files/files/etc/ipkg.conf b/package/base-files/files/etc/ipkg.conf
index 8c7c943ca..c6c9dc717 100644
--- a/package/base-files/files/etc/ipkg.conf
+++ b/package/base-files/files/etc/ipkg.conf
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 src snapshots http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/$S/packages
 dest root /
 dest ram /tmp
+lists_dir ext /var/ipkg-lists