diff --git a/construct/construct.cc b/construct/construct.cc
index a4affe7cf..22dd2bf5c 100644
--- a/construct/construct.cc
+++ b/construct/construct.cc
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ lgetopt opts[] =
 	{ "checkdb",    &ircd::checkdb,   lgetopt::BOOL,    "Perform complete checks of databases when opening" },
 	{ "pitrecdb",   &ircd::pitrecdb,  lgetopt::BOOL,    "Allow Point-In-Time-Recover if DB reports corruption after crash" },
 	{ "nojs",       &ircd::nojs,      lgetopt::BOOL,    "Disable SpiderMonkey JS subsystem from initializing. (noop when not available)." },
+	{ "nodirect",   &ircd::nodirect,  lgetopt::BOOL,    "Disable direct IO (O_DIRECT) for unsupporting filesystems." },
 	{ nullptr,      nullptr,          lgetopt::STRING,  nullptr },
 };
 
diff --git a/include/ircd/ircd.h b/include/ircd/ircd.h
index 105c2de3d..bf59e1b0a 100644
--- a/include/ircd/ircd.h
+++ b/include/ircd/ircd.h
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ namespace ircd
 	extern bool checkdb;               ///< Perform checks on database opens
 	extern bool pitrecdb;              ///< Allow Point-In-Time Recovery if DB corrupt.
 	extern bool nojs;                  ///< Option to not init js subsystem.
+	extern bool nodirect;              ///< Option to not use direct IO (O_DIRECT).
 }
 
 #include "string_view.h"
diff --git a/ircd/db.cc b/ircd/db.cc
index 5f990a3bc..a94f545ee 100644
--- a/ircd/db.cc
+++ b/ircd/db.cc
@@ -772,7 +772,7 @@ try
 	opts.allow_concurrent_memtable_write = false;
 	opts.enable_write_thread_adaptive_yield = false;
 	opts.enable_pipelined_write = false;
-	opts.use_direct_reads = true;
+	opts.use_direct_reads = !ircd::nodirect;
 	opts.write_thread_max_yield_usec = 0;
 	opts.write_thread_slow_yield_usec = 0;
 	opts.use_direct_io_for_flush_and_compaction = false;
diff --git a/ircd/ircd.cc b/ircd/ircd.cc
index 014a7e0bc..55dc2ed46 100644
--- a/ircd/ircd.cc
+++ b/ircd/ircd.cc
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ namespace ircd
 	bool checkdb;                                // check databases when opening
 	bool pitrecdb;                               // point-in-time recovery for db
 	bool nojs;                                   // no ircd::js system init.
+	bool nodirect;                               // no use of O_DIRECT.
 
 	std::string _hostname;                       // user's supplied param
 	boost::asio::io_context *ios;                // user's io service