diff --git a/Config.in b/Config.in
index d795361148..1809eebd3e 100644
--- a/Config.in
+++ b/Config.in
@@ -165,8 +165,10 @@ config BR2_PRIMARY_SITE
 	  Primary site to download from. If this option is set then buildroot
 	  will try to download package source first from this site and try the
 	  default if the file is not found.
-	  Valid URIs are URIs recognized by $(WGET) and scp URIs of the form
-	  scp://[user@]host:path.
+	  Valid URIs are:
+	    - URIs recognized by $(WGET)
+	    - local URIs of the form file://absolutepath
+	    - scp URIs of the form scp://[user@]host:path.
 
 config BR2_PRIMARY_SITE_ONLY
 	bool "Only allow downloads from primary download site"
diff --git a/package/pkg-download.mk b/package/pkg-download.mk
index c86b9abcff..f08f616099 100644
--- a/package/pkg-download.mk
+++ b/package/pkg-download.mk
@@ -214,6 +214,7 @@ endef
 define DOWNLOAD_INNER
 	$(Q)if test -n "$(call qstrip,$(BR2_PRIMARY_SITE))" ; then \
 		case "$(call geturischeme,$(BR2_PRIMARY_SITE))" in \
+			file) $(call $(3)_LOCALFILES,$(BR2_PRIMARY_SITE)/$(2),$(2)) && exit ;; \
 			scp) $(call $(3)_SCP,$(BR2_PRIMARY_SITE)/$(2),$(2)) && exit ;; \
 			*) $(call $(3)_WGET,$(BR2_PRIMARY_SITE)/$(2),$(2)) && exit ;; \
 		esac ; \