Index: pym/portage/dbapi/porttree.py
===================================================================
--- pym/portage/dbapi/porttree.py	(revision 13850)
+++ pym/portage/dbapi/porttree.py	(working copy)
@@ -109,6 +109,11 @@
 	"""this tree will scan a portage directory located at root (passed to init)"""
 	portdbapi_instances = []
 	_use_mutable = True
+
+	@property
+	def _categories(self):
+		return self.mysettings.categories
+
 	def __init__(self, porttree_root, mysettings=None):
 		portdbapi.portdbapi_instances.append(self)
 
@@ -119,7 +124,7 @@
 			from portage import settings
 			self.mysettings = config(clone=settings)
 		self._iuse_implicit = self.mysettings._get_implicit_iuse()
-		self._categories = self.mysettings.categories
+
 		# This is strictly for use in aux_get() doebuild calls when metadata
 		# is generated by the depend phase.  It's safest to use a clone for
 		# this purpose because doebuild makes many changes to the config
Index: bin/repoman
===================================================================
--- bin/repoman	(revision 13850)
+++ bin/repoman	(working copy)
@@ -512,6 +512,14 @@
 logging.info('PORTDIR = "' + portdir + '"')
 logging.info('PORTDIR_OVERLAY = "%s"' % env['PORTDIR_OVERLAY'])
 
+categories = []
+for path in set([portdir, portdir_overlay]):
+	categories.extend(portage.util.grabfile(
+		os.path.join(path, 'profiles', 'categories')))
+repoman_settings.categories = tuple(sorted(
+	portage.util.stack_lists([categories], incremental=1)))
+del categories
+
 portdb.mysettings = repoman_settings
 root_config = RootConfig(repoman_settings, trees[root], None)
 # We really only need to cache the metadata that's necessary for visibility