diff --git a/README b/README
index c1ea8b066..69ecea0bb 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -59,6 +59,10 @@ to the --relocate option.
 
 	rpm -i --force --relocate=/usr/=$PREFIX/usr/ MariaDB-5.5.34-centos6-x86_64-common.rpm MariaDB-5.5.34-centos6-x86_64-compat.rpm MariaDB-5.5.34-centos6-x86_64-devel.rpm
 
+You can also use the included 'unpack_rpm.sh' script to unpack the RPMs without installing them.
+
+	./unpack_rpm <location of MariaDB RPMs> <extraction destination>
+
 This README assumes $PREFIX = $HOME.
 
 MaxScale may be built with the embedded MariaDB library either linked
diff --git a/unpack_rmp.sh b/unpack_rmp.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..4158c6a84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/unpack_rmp.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+#This script unpacks the RPM to the provided directory
+
+unpack_to(){
+	cd $2 && rpm2cpio $1 | cpio -id;
+}
+
+
+if [[ $# -lt 2 ]]
+then
+	echo "Usage: unpack_rpm.sh <path to MariaDB RPMs> <installation directory>"
+	exit 0
+fi
+
+SOURCE=$1
+DEST=$2
+FILES=$(ls $SOURCE |grep -i mariadb.*`uname -m`.*.rpm)
+
+if [[ ! -d $DEST ]]
+then
+	mkdir -p $DEST
+fi
+
+echo "Unpacking RPMs to: $DEST"
+
+for rpm in $FILES
+do
+	echo "Unpacking $rpm..."
+	unpack_to $SOURCE/$rpm $DEST 
+done
+