diff --git a/scripts/oe-buildenv-internal b/scripts/oe-buildenv-internal
index 05c6cd8ce1..32c0ba02d6 100755
--- a/scripts/oe-buildenv-internal
+++ b/scripts/oe-buildenv-internal
@@ -46,6 +46,9 @@ if [ "x$BDIR" = "x" ]; then
             return 1
         fi
     fi
+    if [ "x$2" != "x" ]; then
+        BITBAKEDIR="$2"
+    fi
 fi
 if expr "$BDIR" : '/.*' > /dev/null ; then
     BUILDDIR="$BDIR"
@@ -54,10 +57,8 @@ else
 fi
 unset BDIR
 
-if [ "x$2" = "x" ]; then
+if [ "x$BITBAKEDIR" = "x" ]; then
     BITBAKEDIR="$OEROOT/bitbake$BBEXTRA/"
-else
-    BITBAKEDIR="$2"
 fi
 
 BITBAKEDIR=`readlink -f "$BITBAKEDIR"`