diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 2d3e17329c..47dbed0dd8 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+2023-03-20  Bogdan Drozdowski <bogdro #at# users . sourceforge . net>
+
+	* util/texi2dvi: Make setting the environment variable
+	TEXI2DVI_BUILD_DIRECTORY have the same effect as using --build-dir
+	on the command line - set the build mode to 'tidy' (but still let
+	the user override this with a command line switch or environment).
+
 2023-03-19  Gavin Smith <gavinsmith0123@gmail.com>
 
 	* README-hacking: Update
diff --git a/util/texi2dvi b/util/texi2dvi
index 28c53ebe44..14fe547624 100755
--- a/util/texi2dvi
+++ b/util/texi2dvi
@@ -38,6 +38,13 @@ program=`echo $0 | $SED -e 's!.*/!!'`
 build_mode=${TEXI2DVI_BUILD_MODE:-local}
 build_dir=${TEXI2DVI_BUILD_DIRECTORY:-.}
 
+# When the user provides the build dir, but not the build mode, set the
+# build mode to 'tidy', to match the command-line processing
+if test -n "$TEXI2DVI_BUILD_DIRECTORY" -a \
+  -z "$TEXI2DVI_BUILD_MODE" ; then
+  build_mode=tidy;
+fi
+
 orig_pwd=`pwd`
 
 # Initialize variables for option overriding and otherwise.