diff --git a/locale/loadarchive.c b/locale/loadarchive.c
index 512769eaec..171dbb4ad9 100644
--- a/locale/loadarchive.c
+++ b/locale/loadarchive.c
@@ -123,6 +123,23 @@ calculate_head_size (const struct locarhead *h)
   return MAX (namehash_end, MAX (string_end, locrectab_end));
 }
 
+static int
+open_locale_archive (void)
+{
+  int fd = -1;
+  char *versioned_path = getenv ("LOCALE_ARCHIVE_2_27");
+  char *path = getenv ("LOCALE_ARCHIVE");
+  if (versioned_path)
+    fd = __open_nocancel (versioned_path, O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE|O_CLOEXEC);
+  if (path && fd < 0)
+    fd = __open_nocancel (path, O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE|O_CLOEXEC);
+  if (fd < 0)
+    fd = __open_nocancel (archfname, O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE|O_CLOEXEC);
+  if (fd < 0)
+    fd = __open_nocancel ("/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE|O_CLOEXEC);
+  return fd;
+}
+
 
 /* Find the locale *NAMEP in the locale archive, and return the
    internalized data structure for its CATEGORY data.  If this locale has
@@ -202,7 +219,7 @@ _nl_load_locale_from_archive (int category, const char **namep)
       archmapped = &headmap;
 
       /* The archive has never been opened.  */
-      fd = __open_nocancel (archfname, O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE|O_CLOEXEC);
+      fd = open_locale_archive ();
       if (fd < 0)
 	/* Cannot open the archive, for whatever reason.  */
 	return NULL;
@@ -397,8 +414,7 @@ _nl_load_locale_from_archive (int category, const char **namep)
 	  if (fd == -1)
 	    {
 	      struct __stat64_t64 st;
-	      fd = __open_nocancel (archfname,
-				    O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE|O_CLOEXEC);
+	      fd = open_locale_archive();
 	      if (fd == -1)
 		/* Cannot open the archive, for whatever reason.  */
 		return NULL;
diff --git a/locale/programs/locale.c b/locale/programs/locale.c
index ca0a95be99..e484783402 100644
--- a/locale/programs/locale.c
+++ b/locale/programs/locale.c
@@ -633,6 +633,24 @@ nameentcmp (const void *a, const void *b)
 }
 
 
+static int
+open_locale_archive (void)
+{
+  int fd = -1;
+  char *versioned_path = getenv ("LOCALE_ARCHIVE_2_27");
+  char *path = getenv ("LOCALE_ARCHIVE");
+  if (versioned_path)
+    fd = open64 (versioned_path, O_RDONLY);
+  if (path && fd < 0)
+    fd = open64 (path, O_RDONLY);
+  if (fd < 0)
+    fd = open64 (ARCHIVE_NAME, O_RDONLY);
+  if (fd < 0)
+    fd = open64 ("/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive", O_RDONLY);
+  return fd;
+}
+
+
 static int
 write_archive_locales (void **all_datap, char *linebuf)
 {
@@ -645,7 +663,7 @@ write_archive_locales (void **all_datap, char *linebuf)
   int fd, ret = 0;
   uint32_t cnt;
 
-  fd = open64 (ARCHIVE_NAME, O_RDONLY);
+  fd = open_locale_archive ();
   if (fd < 0)
     return 0;
 
diff --git a/locale/programs/locarchive.c b/locale/programs/locarchive.c
index f38e835c52..779a3199fc 100644
--- a/locale/programs/locarchive.c
+++ b/locale/programs/locarchive.c
@@ -117,6 +117,22 @@ prepare_address_space (int fd, size_t total, size_t *reserved, int *xflags,
 }
 
 
+static int
+open_locale_archive (const char * archivefname, int flags)
+{
+  int fd = -1;
+  char *versioned_path = getenv ("LOCALE_ARCHIVE_2_27");
+  char *path = getenv ("LOCALE_ARCHIVE");
+  if (versioned_path)
+    fd = open64 (versioned_path, flags);
+  if (path && fd < 0)
+    fd = open64 (path, flags);
+  if (fd < 0)
+    fd = open64 (archivefname, flags);
+  return fd;
+}
+
+
 static void
 create_archive (const char *archivefname, struct locarhandle *ah)
 {
@@ -578,7 +594,7 @@ open_archive (struct locarhandle *ah, bool readonly)
   while (1)
     {
       /* Open the archive.  We must have exclusive write access.  */
-      fd = open64 (archivefname, readonly ? O_RDONLY : O_RDWR);
+      fd = open_locale_archive (archivefname, readonly ? O_RDONLY : O_RDWR);
       if (fd == -1)
 	{
 	  /* Maybe the file does not yet exist? If we are opening