diff --git a/libpkgconf/libpkgconf.h b/libpkgconf/libpkgconf.h
index 9018641..ebd148f 100644
--- a/libpkgconf/libpkgconf.h
+++ b/libpkgconf/libpkgconf.h
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ pkgconf_pkg_comparator_t pkgconf_pkg_comparator_lookup_by_name(const char *name)
 pkgconf_pkg_t *pkgconf_builtin_pkg_get(const char *name);
 
 int pkgconf_compare_version(const char *a, const char *b);
-pkgconf_pkg_t *pkgconf_scan_all(pkgconf_client_t *client, void *ptr, pkgconf_pkg_iteration_func_t func);
+pkgconf_pkg_t *pkgconf_scan_all(const pkgconf_client_t *client, void *ptr, pkgconf_pkg_iteration_func_t func);
 void pkgconf_pkg_dir_list_build(pkgconf_client_t *client, unsigned int flags);
 
 /* parse.c */
diff --git a/libpkgconf/pkg.c b/libpkgconf/pkg.c
index 085ad26..71bebea 100644
--- a/libpkgconf/pkg.c
+++ b/libpkgconf/pkg.c
@@ -392,13 +392,11 @@ out:
 }
 
 pkgconf_pkg_t *
-pkgconf_scan_all(pkgconf_client_t *client, void *data, pkgconf_pkg_iteration_func_t func)
+pkgconf_scan_all(const pkgconf_client_t *client, void *data, pkgconf_pkg_iteration_func_t func)
 {
 	pkgconf_node_t *n;
 	pkgconf_pkg_t *pkg;
 
-	pkgconf_pkg_dir_list_build(client, 0);
-
 	PKGCONF_FOREACH_LIST_ENTRY(client->dir_list.head, n)
 	{
 		pkgconf_path_t *pnode = n->data;
@@ -455,8 +453,6 @@ pkgconf_pkg_find(pkgconf_client_t *client, const char *name, unsigned int flags)
 	pkgconf_node_t *n;
 	FILE *f;
 
-	pkgconf_pkg_dir_list_build(client, flags);
-
 	/* name might actually be a filename. */
 	if (str_has_suffix(name, PKG_CONFIG_EXT))
 	{
diff --git a/main.c b/main.c
index 38901c1..17c6990 100644
--- a/main.c
+++ b/main.c
@@ -824,6 +824,9 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	else
 		pkgconf_tuple_add_global(&pkg_client, "pc_sysrootdir", "/");
 
+	/* at this point, global_traverse_flags should be set, so build the dir list */
+	pkgconf_pkg_dir_list_build(&pkg_client, global_traverse_flags);
+
 	if (required_pkgconfig_version != NULL)
 	{
 		if (pkgconf_compare_version(PACKAGE_VERSION, required_pkgconfig_version) >= 0)