diff --git a/mxraid/mxraid_assemble b/mxraid/mxraid_assemble
index d8909036..34855c42 100755
--- a/mxraid/mxraid_assemble
+++ b/mxraid/mxraid_assemble
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ sub exec_usage {
 
       -a        assemble arrays when run as root
       -c        check database
+      -d file   alternative database file
       -h        print this help and exit
       -q        be quiet
       -v        be more verbose
@@ -62,7 +63,7 @@ sub exec_version {
 my $ROOT=$<==0?1:0;
 
 my %opts;
-getopts('achqvV', \%opts) or die "# ERROR: getopts failed, try -h.\n";  # Values in %opts
+getopts('acd:hqvV', \%opts) or die "# ERROR: getopts failed, try -h.\n";  # Values in %opts
 exec_usage if $opts{h};
 exec_version if $opts{V};
 
@@ -73,6 +74,15 @@ $VERBOSE+=1 if $opts{v};
 
 
 my $MDADMCONF_DB =    '/etc/mxmd.conf';      # the 'database' with serials
+if ($opts{d}) {
+  my $db = $opts{d};
+  if (-e $db) {
+    $MDADMCONF_DB = $db;
+  } else {
+    die "# db file '$db' does not exist, stopped";
+  }
+}
+
 my $MDADM_CONF_BASE = '/dev/shm/mdadm.conf'; # config for mdadm, created with information from above
 
 my $MDADM_ASSEMBLE_OPTIONS = '';
@@ -82,10 +92,12 @@ my $hd = MxRaid::HostData->new($cd);           $hd->verbose($VERBOSE);
 my $utils = MxRaid::Utils->new();
 
 if ($opts{c}) {
-  printf "# Database file   :'%s'\n", $MDADMCONF_DB;
-  printf "# Record count    : %d\n", $cd->number_of_db_records;
-  printf "# Successor labels: %s\n", join(', ', @{$cd->next_db_labels});
-  print  "\n";
+  if ($VERBOSE >= 1) {
+    printf "# Database file   :'%s'\n", $MDADMCONF_DB;
+    printf "# Record count    : %d\n", $cd->number_of_db_records;
+    printf "# Successor labels: %s\n", join(', ', @{$cd->next_db_labels});
+    print  "\n";
+  }
 } else {
   create_mdadm_configs();
 }
@@ -105,7 +117,6 @@ sub create_mdadm_configs {
   my @mdadm_conf;
   my $dev_no = 0;
   for my $rlabel (@{$hd->raid_labels()}) {
-### my $pfx = ''; # :xxx: this is a cheat, fix this
     my $condition_active = 0;
     my $condition_incomplete = 0;
     my $active_dev_no = -1;