diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 418f7cf5..0f9c81b4 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,5 +1,15 @@
 xbps-0.43 (???):
 
+ * xbps.d(5): the "virtualpkg" keyword now accepts pkgnames in the first component,
+   to match any virtual package version. Example:
+
+	`virtualpkg=foo:bar`
+
+   would match any version of the virtual package `foo' to be resolved as `bar'.
+
+ * libxbps: when resolving virtual packages in repositories, make sure to initialize
+   pkgdb to match any virtualpkg declared there. Regression introduced in 0.42.
+
  * configure: build with -fstack-protector-strong if supported by the compiler,
    and fallback to -fstack-protector-all otherwise.
 
diff --git a/data/xbps.d.5 b/data/xbps.d.5
index c7ee2b40..d8154cd0 100644
--- a/data/xbps.d.5
+++ b/data/xbps.d.5
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.Dd December 23, 2014
+.Dd December 30, 2014
 .Dt XBPS-D 5
 .Sh NAME
 .Nm xbps.d
@@ -84,12 +84,12 @@ archive is expected, example:
 Sets the default root directory.
 .It Sy syslog=true|false
 Enables or disables syslog logging. Enabled by default.
-.It Sy virtualpkg=vpkgver:pkgname
+.It Sy virtualpkg=[vpkgname|vpkgver]:pkgname
 Declares a virtual package. A virtual package declaration is composed by two
 components delimited by a colon, example:
 .Pp
-.Bl -tag -compact -width virtualpkg=cron-daemon-1.0_1:dcron
-.It Sy virtualpkg=cron-daemon-1.0_1:dcron
+.Bl -tag -compact -width virtualpkg=cron-daemon:dcron
+.It Sy virtualpkg=cron-daemon:dcron
 Any request to the
 .Ar cron-daemon
 virtual package will be resolved to the
@@ -98,9 +98,10 @@ real package.
 .El
 .Pp
 The first component expects a
-.Em virtual package name and its version component .
+.Em virtual package name and optionally its version component .
 The second component expects a
-.Em package name .
+.Em package name
+to match the real package.
 .El
 .Sh ENVIRONMENT
 .Bl -tag -width XBPS_TARGET_ARCH
diff --git a/include/xbps_api_impl.h b/include/xbps_api_impl.h
index 432a9264..b177bf8a 100644
--- a/include/xbps_api_impl.h
+++ b/include/xbps_api_impl.h
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ void HIDDEN xbps_pkg_find_conflicts(struct xbps_handle *, xbps_array_t,
 char HIDDEN *xbps_archive_get_file(struct archive *, struct archive_entry *);
 xbps_dictionary_t HIDDEN xbps_archive_get_dictionary(struct archive *,
 		struct archive_entry *);
-const char HIDDEN *vpkg_user_conf(struct xbps_handle *, const char *, bool);
+const char HIDDEN *vpkg_user_conf(struct xbps_handle *, const char *);
 xbps_array_t HIDDEN xbps_get_pkg_fulldeptree(struct xbps_handle *,
 		const char *, bool);
 
diff --git a/lib/pkgdb.c b/lib/pkgdb.c
index 4a3971a5..81b2460c 100644
--- a/lib/pkgdb.c
+++ b/lib/pkgdb.c
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ xbps_pkgdb_update(struct xbps_handle *xhp, bool flush)
 		return cached_rv;
 
 	if (xhp->pkgdb && flush) {
-		pkgdb_storage = xbps_dictionary_internalize_from_zfile(xhp->pkgdb_plist);
+		pkgdb_storage = xbps_dictionary_internalize_from_file(xhp->pkgdb_plist);
 		if (pkgdb_storage == NULL ||
 		    !xbps_dictionary_equals(xhp->pkgdb, pkgdb_storage)) {
 			/* flush dictionary to storage */
@@ -227,7 +227,7 @@ xbps_pkgdb_update(struct xbps_handle *xhp, bool flush)
 		cached_rv = 0;
 	}
 	/* update copy in memory */
-	if ((xhp->pkgdb = xbps_dictionary_internalize_from_zfile(xhp->pkgdb_plist)) == NULL) {
+	if ((xhp->pkgdb = xbps_dictionary_internalize_from_file(xhp->pkgdb_plist)) == NULL) {
 		if (errno == ENOENT)
 			xhp->pkgdb = xbps_dictionary_create();
 		else
@@ -341,7 +341,7 @@ generate_full_revdeps_tree(struct xbps_handle *xhp)
 			if (curpkgname == NULL)
 				curpkgname = xbps_pkg_name(pkgdep);
 			assert(curpkgname);
-			vpkgname = vpkg_user_conf(xhp, curpkgname, false);
+			vpkgname = vpkg_user_conf(xhp, curpkgname);
 			if (vpkgname == NULL)
 				vpkgname = curpkgname;
 
diff --git a/lib/plist_find.c b/lib/plist_find.c
index cf878b4e..1337d5c7 100644
--- a/lib/plist_find.c
+++ b/lib/plist_find.c
@@ -121,16 +121,12 @@ xbps_find_virtualpkg_in_array(struct xbps_handle *x,
 {
 	xbps_dictionary_t pkgd;
 	const char *vpkg;
-	bool bypattern = false;
 
 	assert(x);
 	assert(xbps_object_type(a) == XBPS_TYPE_ARRAY);
 	assert(s);
 
-	if (xbps_pkgpattern_version(s))
-		bypattern = true;
-
-	if ((vpkg = vpkg_user_conf(x, s, bypattern))) {
+	if ((vpkg = vpkg_user_conf(x, s))) {
 		if ((pkgd = get_pkg_in_array(a, vpkg, trans, true)))
 			return pkgd;
 	}
@@ -193,17 +189,16 @@ match_pkg_by_pattern(xbps_dictionary_t repod, const char *p)
 }
 
 const char HIDDEN *
-vpkg_user_conf(struct xbps_handle *xhp,
-	       const char *vpkg,
-	       bool bypattern)
+vpkg_user_conf(struct xbps_handle *xhp, const char *vpkg)
 {
 	xbps_object_t obj;
 	xbps_object_iterator_t iter;
-	xbps_string_t rpkg;
-	const char *vpkgver, *pkg = NULL;
-	char *vpkgname = NULL, *tmp;
+	const char *pkg = NULL;
 	bool found = false;
 
+	/* init pkgdb just in case to detect vpkgs */
+	(void)xbps_pkgdb_init(xhp);
+
 	if (xhp->vpkgd == NULL)
 		return NULL;
 
@@ -211,36 +206,35 @@ vpkg_user_conf(struct xbps_handle *xhp,
 	assert(iter);
 
 	while ((obj = xbps_object_iterator_next(iter))) {
-		vpkgver = xbps_dictionary_keysym_cstring_nocopy(obj);
+		xbps_string_t rpkg;
+		const char *vpkg_conf;
+
+		vpkg_conf = xbps_dictionary_keysym_cstring_nocopy(obj);
 		rpkg = xbps_dictionary_get_keysym(xhp->vpkgd, obj);
 		pkg = xbps_string_cstring_nocopy(rpkg);
 
-		tmp = NULL;
-		if (strchr(vpkgver, '_') == NULL) {
-			tmp = xbps_xasprintf("%s_1", vpkgver);
-			vpkgname = xbps_pkg_name(tmp);
-			free(tmp);
-		} else {
-			vpkgname = xbps_pkg_name(vpkgver);
-		}
-		if (vpkgname == NULL)
-			break;
-		if (bypattern) {
-			if (!xbps_pkgpattern_match(vpkgver, vpkg)) {
-				free(vpkgname);
+		if (xbps_pkgpattern_version(vpkg_conf)) {
+			if (!xbps_pkgpattern_match(vpkg_conf, vpkg)) {
 				continue;
 			}
 		} else {
-			if (strcmp(vpkg, vpkgname)) {
+			if (xbps_pkg_version(vpkg_conf)) {
+				char *vpkgname = xbps_pkg_name(vpkg_conf);
+				assert(vpkgname);
+				if (strcmp(vpkg, vpkgname)) {
+					free(vpkgname);
+					continue;
+				}
 				free(vpkgname);
-				continue;
+			} else {
+				/* assume a correct pkgname */
+				if (strcmp(vpkg, vpkg_conf)) {
+					continue;
+				}
 			}
 		}
-#ifdef FULLDEBUG
 		xbps_dbg_printf(xhp, "matched vpkg `%s' with `%s (provides %s)`\n",
-		    vpkg, pkg, vpkgver);
-#endif
-		free(vpkgname);
+		    vpkg, pkg, vpkg_conf);
 		found = true;
 		break;
 	}
@@ -258,13 +252,9 @@ xbps_find_virtualpkg_in_dict(struct xbps_handle *xhp,
 	xbps_object_iterator_t iter;
 	xbps_dictionary_t pkgd = NULL;
 	const char *vpkg;
-	bool bypattern = false;
-
-	if (xbps_pkgpattern_version(pkg))
-		bypattern = true;
 
 	/* Try matching vpkg from configuration files */
-	vpkg = vpkg_user_conf(xhp, pkg, bypattern);
+	vpkg = vpkg_user_conf(xhp, pkg);
 	if (vpkg != NULL) {
 		if (xbps_pkgpattern_version(vpkg))
 			pkgd = match_pkg_by_pattern(d, vpkg);
diff --git a/tests/xbps/libxbps/shell/vpkg_test.sh b/tests/xbps/libxbps/shell/vpkg_test.sh
index 7af39946..73f44af0 100644
--- a/tests/xbps/libxbps/shell/vpkg_test.sh
+++ b/tests/xbps/libxbps/shell/vpkg_test.sh
@@ -123,9 +123,46 @@ vpkg02_body() {
 	atf_check_equal $out $exp
 }
 
+atf_test_case vpkg03
+
+vpkg03_head() {
+	atf_set "descr" "Tests for virtual pkgs: provider in configuration file"
+}
+
+vpkg03_body() {
+	mkdir some_repo
+	mkdir -p pkg_gawk
+	cd some_repo
+	xbps-create -A noarch -n gawk-1.0_1 -s "gawk pkg" ../pkg_gawk
+	atf_check_equal $? 0
+
+	xbps-rindex -d -a $PWD/*.xbps
+	atf_check_equal $? 0
+
+	cd ..
+	xbps-install -C empty.conf -r root --repository=$PWD/some_repo -dy gawk
+	atf_check_equal $? 0
+
+	mkdir -p root/xbps.d
+
+	echo "virtualpkg=awk:gawk" > root/xbps.d/awk.conf
+	out=$(xbps-query -C xbps.d -r root --repository=$PWD/some_repo -ppkgver awk)
+	exp="gawk-1.0_1"
+	echo "out: $out"
+	echo "exp: $exp"
+	atf_check_equal $out $exp
+
+	echo "virtualpkg=awk-0_1:gawk" > root/xbps.d/awk.conf
+	out=$(xbps-query -C xbps.d -r root --repository=$PWD/some_repo -ppkgver awk)
+	exp="gawk-1.0_1"
+	echo "out: $out"
+	echo "exp: $exp"
+	atf_check_equal $out $exp
+}
 
 atf_init_test_cases() {
 	atf_add_test_case vpkg00
 	atf_add_test_case vpkg01
 	atf_add_test_case vpkg02
+	atf_add_test_case vpkg03
 }