diff --git a/elements/source-repositories/README.md b/elements/source-repositories/README.md
index 5d0003d9..309746e6 100644
--- a/elements/source-repositories/README.md
+++ b/elements/source-repositories/README.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-With this element other elements can register source code repositories by
+With this element other elements can register their installation source by
 placing their details in the file source-repository-\*. An example
 of an element "custom-element" that wants to retrieve the ironic source
 from git and pbr from a tarball would be
@@ -42,6 +42,9 @@ Tarballs will be extracted to \<destination\>. Tarballs should contain a
 single topleval directory, regardless of the name of this top level directory
 it will be renamed to \<destination\>
 
+The package type indicates the element should install from packages onto the
+root filesystem of the image build during the install.d phase.
+
 If multiple elements register a source location with the same <destination>
 then source-repositories will exit with an error. Care should therefore be taken
 to only use elements together that download source to different locations.
@@ -49,3 +52,7 @@ to only use elements together that download source to different locations.
 The repository paths built into the image are stored in
 etc/dib-source-repositories, one repository per line. This permits later review
 of the repositories (by users or by other elements).
+
+The repository names and types are written to an environment.d hook script at
+01-source-repositories-environment. This allows later hook scripts during the
+install.d phase to know which install type to use for the element.
diff --git a/elements/source-repositories/extra-data.d/98-source-repositories b/elements/source-repositories/extra-data.d/98-source-repositories
index 5561246d..644a52e1 100755
--- a/elements/source-repositories/extra-data.d/98-source-repositories
+++ b/elements/source-repositories/extra-data.d/98-source-repositories
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ function get_repos_for_element(){
     local REPO_SOURCES=$1
     local CACHE_URL=$TMP_HOOKS_PATH/bin/cache-url
 
-    local REGEX="^([^ ]+) (git|tar|file) (/[^ ]+) ([^ ]+) ?([^ ]*)$"
+    local REGEX="^([^ ]+) (git|tar|file|package) ?(/[^ ]+)? ?([^ ]+)? ?([^ ]*)$"
 
     while read line ; do
 
@@ -100,6 +100,9 @@ function get_repos_for_element(){
                     sudo curl $REPOLOCATION -o $REPO_DEST
                 fi
                 ;;
+            package)
+                echo "$REPONAME set to package source type"
+                ;;
             *)
                 echo "Unsupported repository type: $REPOTYPE"
                 return 1
@@ -108,6 +111,9 @@ function get_repos_for_element(){
             # Capture the in-instance repository path for later review / other
             # elements (like a pypi dependency cache).
             echo "$REPOPATH" | sudo dd of=$TMP_MOUNT_PATH/etc/dib-source-repositories oflag=append conv=notrunc
+            # Save the $REPOTYPE used so that it can be used later by install.d
+            mkdir -p $TMP_HOOKS_PATH/environment.d
+            echo "export DIB_REPOTYPE_${REPONAME//-/_}=$REPOTYPE" >> $TMP_HOOKS_PATH/environment.d/01-source-repositories-environment
         else
             echo "Couldn't parse '$line' as a source repository"
             return 1