diff -urN rpm-4.4.9.org/rpmdb/rpmdb.c rpm-4.4.9/rpmdb/rpmdb.c
--- rpm-4.4.9.org/rpmdb/rpmdb.c	2007-11-18 15:11:35.653546000 +0100
+++ rpm-4.4.9/rpmdb/rpmdb.c	2007-11-18 15:14:35.666077651 +0100
@@ -3899,11 +3899,6 @@
     int * dbiTags = NULL;
     int dbiTagsMax = 0;
 
-    /*@-branchstate@*/
-    if (prefix == NULL) prefix = "/";
-    /*@=branchstate@*/
-    prefix = rpmGetPath(prefix, NULL);	/* strip trailing '/' */
-
     _dbapi = rpmExpandNumeric("%{_dbapi}");
     _dbapi_rebuild = rpmExpandNumeric("%{_dbapi_rebuild}");
 
@@ -3920,6 +3915,16 @@
 	rc = 1;
 	goto exit;
     }
+    /* Add --root prefix iff --dbpath is not a URL. */
+    switch (urlPath(tfn, NULL)) {
+        default:
+	    prefix = xstrdup("");
+	    break;
+	case URL_IS_UNKNOWN:
+	    prefix = rpmGetPath((prefix ? prefix : "/"), NULL);
+	    break;
+    }
+
     dbpath = rootdbpath = rpmGetPath(prefix, tfn, NULL);
     if (!(prefix[0] == '/' && prefix[1] == '\0'))
 	dbpath += strlen(prefix);
@@ -3945,7 +3950,7 @@
     }
     newdbpath = newrootdbpath = rpmGetPath(prefix, tfn, NULL);
     if (!(prefix[0] == '/' && prefix[1] == '\0'))
-	newdbpath += strlen(prefix) - 1;
+	newdbpath += strlen(prefix);
     tfn = _free(tfn);
 
     rpmMessage(RPMMESS_DEBUG, _("rebuilding database %s into %s\n"),