diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-private.h b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-private.h
index 764540a2..4bbf6a06 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-private.h
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-private.h
@@ -37,8 +37,6 @@ G_BEGIN_DECLS
 #define _OSTREE_MAX_OUTSTANDING_FETCHER_REQUESTS 8
 #define _OSTREE_MAX_OUTSTANDING_DELTAPART_REQUESTS 2
 
-#define _OSTREE_DEFAULT_LOCK_TIMEOUT_SECONDS 30
-
 /* In most cases, writing to disk should be much faster than
  * fetching from the network, so we shouldn't actually hit
  * this. But if using pipelining and e.g. pulling over LAN
diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
index 08a6276b..e5ffba91 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
@@ -1209,7 +1209,6 @@ ostree_repo_init (OstreeRepo *self)
   self->objects_dir_fd = -1;
   self->uncompressed_objects_dir_fd = -1;
   self->sysroot_kind = OSTREE_REPO_SYSROOT_KIND_UNKNOWN;
-  self->lock_timeout_seconds = _OSTREE_DEFAULT_LOCK_TIMEOUT_SECONDS;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -2734,6 +2733,15 @@ reload_core_config (OstreeRepo          *self,
     self->tmp_expiry_seconds = g_ascii_strtoull (tmp_expiry_seconds, NULL, 10);
   }
 
+  { g_autofree char *lock_timeout_seconds = NULL;
+
+    if (!ot_keyfile_get_value_with_default (self->config, "core", "lock-timeout-secs", "30",
+                                            &lock_timeout_seconds, error))
+      return FALSE;
+
+    self->lock_timeout_seconds = g_ascii_strtoull (lock_timeout_seconds, NULL, 10);
+  }
+
   { g_autofree char *compression_level_str = NULL;
 
     /* gzip defaults to 6 */