Index: pym/portage/dbapi/porttree.py
===================================================================
--- pym/portage/dbapi/porttree.py	(revision 13849)
+++ pym/portage/dbapi/porttree.py	(revision 13850)
@@ -124,6 +124,10 @@
 		"Define self.settings as an alias for self.mysettings, " + \
 		"for conformity with other dbapi classes.")
 
+	@property
+	def _categories(self):
+		return self.settings.categories
+
 	def __init__(self, porttree_root, mysettings=None):
 		portdbapi.portdbapi_instances.append(self)
 
@@ -133,7 +137,7 @@
 		else:
 			from portage import settings
 			self.mysettings = config(clone=settings)
-		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 13849)
+++ bin/repoman	(revision 13850)
@@ -513,6 +513,14 @@
 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