diff --git a/subversion.spec b/subversion.spec
index cda1980..21fee29 100644
--- a/subversion.spec
+++ b/subversion.spec
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 %bcond_without kwallet
 %bcond_without python2
 %bcond_with python3
+%bcond_without bdb
 
 %ifarch %{power64} s390x
 %global with_java 0
@@ -34,7 +35,7 @@
 Summary: A Modern Concurrent Version Control System
 Name: subversion
 Version: 1.10.0
-Release: 2%{?dist}
+Release: 3%{?dist}
 License: ASL 2.0
 Group: Development/Tools
 URL: https://subversion.apache.org/
@@ -54,7 +55,10 @@ Patch5: subversion-1.8.5-swigplWall.patch
 Patch6: subversion-1.9.7-pybinary.patch
 
 BuildRequires: autoconf, libtool, texinfo, which
-BuildRequires: libdb-devel >= 4.1.25, swig >= 1.3.24, gettext
+BuildRequires: swig >= 1.3.24, gettext
+%if %{with bdb}
+BuildRequires: libdb-devel >= 4.1.25
+%endif
 BuildRequires: apr-devel >= 1.3.0, apr-util-devel >= 1.3.0
 BuildRequires: libserf-devel >= 1.3.0, cyrus-sasl-devel
 BuildRequires: sqlite-devel >= 3.4.0, file-devel, systemd-units
@@ -261,7 +265,10 @@ export CC=gcc CXX=g++ JAVA_HOME=%{jdk_path}
 %if %{with kwallet}
         --with-kwallet=%{_includedir}/kde4:%{_libdir}/kde4/devel \
 %endif
-        --with-berkeley-db || (cat config.log; exit 1)
+%if %{with bdb}
+        --with-berkeley-db \
+%endif
+        || (cat config.log; exit 1)
 make %{?_smp_mflags} all tools
 make swig-py swig-py-lib %{swigdirs}
 make swig-pl swig-pl-lib swig-rb swig-rb-lib
@@ -514,6 +521,9 @@ make check-javahl
 %endif
 
 %changelog
+* Tue Apr 24 2018 Joe Orton <jorton@redhat.com> - 1.10.0-3
+- add bdb build conditional
+
 * Tue Apr 17 2018 Joe Orton <jorton@redhat.com> - 1.10.0-2
 - move new tools to -tools