diff -uNr mediastreamer2/src/base/msfactory.c mediastreamer2-new/src/base/msfactory.c
--- a/src/base/msfactory.c	2015-05-13 16:53:49.801113249 +0200
+++ b/src/base/msfactory.c	2015-08-26 21:35:44.994724647 +0200
@@ -630,12 +630,18 @@
 }
 
 void ms_factory_init_plugins(MSFactory *obj) {
+	char *package_plugins_dir;
 	if (obj->plugins_dir == NULL) {
+		package_plugins_dir=getenv("MEDIASTREAMER_PLUGINS_DIR");
+		if (package_plugins_dir!=NULL){
+			obj->plugins_dir = ms_strdup(package_plugins_dir);
+		} else {
 #ifdef PACKAGE_PLUGINS_DIR
-		obj->plugins_dir = ms_strdup(PACKAGE_PLUGINS_DIR);
+			obj->plugins_dir = ms_strdup(PACKAGE_PLUGINS_DIR);
 #else
-		obj->plugins_dir = ms_strdup("");
+			obj->plugins_dir = ms_strdup("");
 #endif
+		}
 	}
 	if (strlen(obj->plugins_dir) > 0) {
 		ms_message("Loading ms plugins from [%s]",obj->plugins_dir);