diff --git a/src/pacman/pacman-conf.c b/src/pacman/pacman-conf.c
index 463badf1..05492ed9 100644
--- a/src/pacman/pacman-conf.c
+++ b/src/pacman/pacman-conf.c
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ static void parse_opts(int argc, char **argv)
 				config_file = optarg;
 				break;
 			case 'R':
+				free(config->rootdir);
 				if ((config->rootdir = strdup(optarg)) == NULL) {
 					fprintf(stderr, _("error setting rootdir '%s': out of memory\n"), optarg);
 					cleanup();