diff --git a/Makefile-lib.am b/Makefile-lib.am
index bef049e1..f9d67f5c 100644
--- a/Makefile-lib.am
+++ b/Makefile-lib.am
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ librpmostree_1_la_SOURCES = \
 	src/lib/rpmostree.c \
 	src/lib/rpmostree-db.c \
 	src/lib/rpmostree-package.c \
+	src/lib/rpmver-private.c \
 	$(NULL)
 
 librpmostree_1_la_CFLAGS = $(AM_CFLAGS) -I$(srcdir)/libglnx -I$(srcdir)/src/libpriv -I$(srcdir)/src/lib \
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index f9c253a0..bab7e9b8 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -53,6 +53,12 @@ dnl RHEL8.1 has old libarchive
 AS_IF([pkg-config --atleast-version=3.3.3 libarchive],
   [AC_DEFINE([HAVE_LIBARCHIVE_ZSTD], 1, [Define if we have libarchive with zstd])])
 
+# rpmver is available in rpm >= 4.16, el8 is still on 4.14
+AC_SEARCH_LIBS([rpmverCmp], [rpm],
+  AC_DEFINE([BUILDOPT_HAVE_RPMVER], 1, [Whether rpmver API is available in librpmio]),
+  AC_DEFINE([BUILDOPT_HAVE_RPMVER], 0, [Whether rpmver API is available in librpmio])
+)
+
 dnl We don't *actually* use this ourself, but librepo does, and libdnf gets confused
 dnl if librepo doesn't support it.
 have_zchunk=no
diff --git a/src/lib/rpmostree-package.c b/src/lib/rpmostree-package.c
index 8575c4a5..3bb03bfe 100644
--- a/src/lib/rpmostree-package.c
+++ b/src/lib/rpmostree-package.c
@@ -32,12 +32,17 @@
 
 #include <string.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
-#include <rpm/rpmver.h>
 #include "libglnx.h"
 
 #include "rpmostree-shlib-ipc-private.h"
 #include "rpmostree-package-priv.h"
 
+#if BUILDOPT_HAVE_RPMVER
+#include <rpm/rpmver.h>
+#else
+#include "rpmver-private.h"
+#endif
+
 typedef GObjectClass RpmOstreePackageClass;
 
 /* Since the class is small, we perform a poor man's polymorphism; RpmOstreePackage objects
diff --git a/src/lib/rpmver-private.c b/src/lib/rpmver-private.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..117df792
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/rpmver-private.c
@@ -0,0 +1,223 @@
+// Temporary forked internal copy of:
+// https://github.com/rpm-software-management/rpm/blob/rpm-4.16.1.3/rpmio/rpmver.c
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later
+
+/* NOTE(lucab): compatibility changes to avoid touching the source.
+ *  The *malloc functions have different behaviors when size=0, but this is not
+ *  a concern here because all calls in this file have strictly-positive size.
+ */
+#include "config.h"
+#if !BUILDOPT_HAVE_RPMVER
+#include <glib.h>
+#define xmalloc(_size) g_malloc((_size))
+#define free(_mem) g_free((_mem))
+#include "rpmver-private.h"
+
+#include <rpm/rpmstring.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+
+struct rpmver_s {
+    const char *e;
+    const char *v;
+    const char *r;
+    char arena[];
+};
+
+/**
+ * Split EVR into epoch, version, and release components.
+ * @param evr		[epoch:]version[-release] string
+ * @retval *ep		pointer to epoch
+ * @retval *vp		pointer to version
+ * @retval *rp		pointer to release
+ */
+static
+void parseEVR(char * evr,
+		const char ** ep,
+		const char ** vp,
+		const char ** rp)
+{
+    const char *epoch;
+    const char *version;		/* assume only version is present */
+    const char *release;
+    char *s, *se;
+
+    s = evr;
+    while (*s && risdigit(*s)) s++;	/* s points to epoch terminator */
+    se = strrchr(s, '-');		/* se points to version terminator */
+
+    if (*s == ':') {
+	epoch = evr;
+	*s++ = '\0';
+	version = s;
+	if (*epoch == '\0') epoch = "0";
+    } else {
+	epoch = NULL;	/* XXX disable epoch compare if missing */
+	version = evr;
+    }
+    if (se) {
+	*se++ = '\0';
+	release = se;
+    } else {
+	release = NULL;
+    }
+
+    if (ep) *ep = epoch;
+    if (vp) *vp = version;
+    if (rp) *rp = release;
+}
+
+int rpmverOverlap(rpmver v1, rpmsenseFlags f1, rpmver v2, rpmsenseFlags f2)
+{
+    int sense = 0;
+    int result = 0;
+
+    /* Compare {A,B} [epoch:]version[-release] */
+    if (v1->e && *v1->e && v2->e && *v2->e)
+	sense = rpmvercmp(v1->e, v2->e);
+    else if (v1->e && *v1->e && atol(v1->e) > 0) {
+	sense = 1;
+    } else if (v2->e && *v2->e && atol(v2->e) > 0)
+	sense = -1;
+
+    if (sense == 0) {
+	sense = rpmvercmp(v1->v, v2->v);
+	if (sense == 0) {
+	    if (v1->r && *v1->r && v2->r && *v2->r) {
+		sense = rpmvercmp(v1->r, v2->r);
+	    } else {
+		/* always matches if the side with no release has SENSE_EQUAL */
+		if ((v1->r && *v1->r && (f2 & RPMSENSE_EQUAL)) ||
+		    (v2->r && *v2->r && (f1 & RPMSENSE_EQUAL))) {
+		    result = 1;
+		    goto exit;
+		}
+	    }
+	}
+    }
+
+    /* Detect overlap of {A,B} range. */
+    if (sense < 0 && ((f1 & RPMSENSE_GREATER) || (f2 & RPMSENSE_LESS))) {
+	result = 1;
+    } else if (sense > 0 && ((f1 & RPMSENSE_LESS) || (f2 & RPMSENSE_GREATER))) {
+	result = 1;
+    } else if (sense == 0 &&
+	(((f1 & RPMSENSE_EQUAL) && (f2 & RPMSENSE_EQUAL)) ||
+	 ((f1 & RPMSENSE_LESS) && (f2 & RPMSENSE_LESS)) ||
+	 ((f1 & RPMSENSE_GREATER) && (f2 & RPMSENSE_GREATER)))) {
+	result = 1;
+    }
+
+exit:
+    return result;
+}
+
+static int compare_values(const char *str1, const char *str2)
+{
+    if (!str1 && !str2)
+	return 0;
+    else if (str1 && !str2)
+	return 1;
+    else if (!str1 && str2)
+	return -1;
+    return rpmvercmp(str1, str2);
+}
+
+int rpmverCmp(rpmver v1, rpmver v2)
+{
+    const char *e1 = (v1->e != NULL) ? v1->e : "0";
+    const char *e2 = (v2->e != NULL) ? v2->e : "0";
+
+    int rc = compare_values(e1, e2);
+    if (!rc) {
+	rc = compare_values(v1->v, v2->v);
+	if (!rc)
+	    rc = compare_values(v1->r, v2->r);
+    }
+    return rc;
+}
+
+uint32_t rpmverEVal(rpmver rv)
+{
+    return (rv != NULL && rv->e != NULL) ? atol(rv->e) : 0;
+}
+
+const char *rpmverE(rpmver rv)
+{
+    return (rv != NULL) ? rv->e : NULL;
+}
+
+const char *rpmverV(rpmver rv)
+{
+    return (rv != NULL) ? rv->v : NULL;
+}
+
+const char *rpmverR(rpmver rv)
+{
+    return (rv != NULL) ? rv->r : NULL;
+}
+
+char *rpmverEVR(rpmver rv)
+{
+    char *EVR = NULL;
+    if (rv) {
+	rstrscat(&EVR, rv->e ? rv-> e : "", rv->e ? ":" : "",
+		       rv->v,
+		       rv->r ? "-" : "", rv->r ? rv->r : "", NULL);
+    }
+    return EVR;
+}
+
+rpmver rpmverParse(const char *evr)
+{
+    rpmver rv = NULL;
+    if (evr && *evr) {
+	size_t evrlen = strlen(evr) + 1;
+	rv = xmalloc(sizeof(*rv) + evrlen);
+	memcpy(rv->arena, evr, evrlen);
+	parseEVR(rv->arena, &rv->e, &rv->v, &rv->r);
+    }
+    return rv;
+}
+
+rpmver rpmverNew(const char *e, const char *v, const char *r)
+{
+    rpmver rv = NULL;
+
+    if (v && *v) {
+	size_t nb = strlen(v) + 1;
+	nb += (e != NULL) ? strlen(e) + 1 : 0;
+	nb += (r != NULL) ? strlen(r) + 1 : 0;
+	rv = xmalloc(sizeof(*rv) + nb);
+
+	rv->e = NULL;
+	rv->v = NULL;
+	rv->r = NULL;
+
+	char *p = rv->arena;
+	if (e) {
+	    rv->e = p;
+	    p = stpcpy(p, e);
+	    p++;
+	}
+
+	rv->v = p;
+	p = stpcpy(p, v);
+	p++;
+
+	if (r) {
+	    rv->r = p;
+	    p = stpcpy(p, r);
+	    p++;
+	}
+    }
+    return rv;
+}
+
+rpmver rpmverFree(rpmver rv)
+{
+    if (rv) {
+	free(rv);
+    }
+    return NULL;
+}
+#endif
diff --git a/src/lib/rpmver-private.h b/src/lib/rpmver-private.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f875c2f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/rpmver-private.h
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+// Temporary forked internal copy of
+// https://github.com/rpm-software-management/rpm/blob/rpm-4.16.1.3/rpmio/rpmver.h
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later
+
+#ifndef _RPMVER_H
+#define _RPMVER_H
+
+#include <rpm/rpmtypes.h>
+#include <rpm/rpmds.h>		/* sense flags */
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+extern "C" {
+#endif
+
+// NOTE(lucab): Backported from <rpm/rpmtypes.h>.
+#ifndef rpmver
+typedef struct rpmver_s * rpmver;
+#endif
+
+/** \ingroup rpmver
+ * Segmented string compare for version or release strings.
+ *
+ * @param a		1st string
+ * @param b		2nd string
+ * @return		+1 if a is "newer", 0 if equal, -1 if b is "newer"
+ */
+int rpmvercmp(const char * a, const char * b);
+
+/** \ingroup rpmver
+ * Parse rpm version handle from evr string
+ *
+ * @param evr		[epoch:]version[-release] string
+ * @return		rpm version, NULL on invalid evr
+ */
+rpmver rpmverParse(const char *evr);
+
+/** \ingroup rpmver
+ * Create new rpm version handle from e, v, r components
+ *
+ * @param e		epoch (or NULL)
+ * @param v		version
+ * @param r		release (or NULL)
+ * @return		rpm version, NULL on invalid
+ */
+rpmver rpmverNew(const char *e, const char *v, const char *r);
+
+/** \ingroup rpmver
+ * Free rpm version handle
+ *
+ * @param rv		rpm version handle
+ * @return		NULL always
+ */
+rpmver rpmverFree(rpmver rv);
+
+/** \ingroup rpmver
+ * @param rv		rpm version handle
+ * @return		numerical value of epoch
+ */
+uint32_t rpmverEVal(rpmver rv);
+
+/** \ingroup rpmver
+ * @param rv		rpm version handle
+ * @return		epoch portion
+ */
+const char *rpmverE(rpmver rv);
+
+/** \ingroup rpmver
+ * @param rv		rpm version handle
+ * @return		version portion
+ */
+const char *rpmverV(rpmver rv);
+
+/** \ingroup rpmver
+ * @param rv		rpm version handle
+ * @return		release portion
+ */
+const char *rpmverR(rpmver rv);
+
+/** \ingroup rpmver
+ * @param rv		rpm version handle
+ * @return		formatted [E:]V[-R] string (malloced)
+ */
+char *rpmverEVR(rpmver rv);
+
+/** \ingroup rpmver
+ * Compare two rpm version handles
+ *
+ * @param v1		1st version handle
+ * @param v2		2nd version handle
+ * @return		0 if equal, -1 if v1 smaller, 1 if greater, than v2
+ */
+int rpmverCmp(rpmver v1, rpmver v2);
+
+/** \ingroup rpmver
+ * Determine whether two versioned ranges overlap.
+ * @param v1		1st version
+ * @param f1		1st sense flags
+ * @param v2		2nd version
+ * @param f2		2nd sense flags
+ * @return		1 if ranges overlap, 0 otherwise
+ */
+int rpmverOverlap(rpmver v1, rpmsenseFlags f1, rpmver v2, rpmsenseFlags f2);
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+}
+#endif
+
+#endif /* _RPMVER_H */