diff --git a/data/icons/hicolor b/data/icons/hicolor
new file mode 120000
index 00000000..945c9b46
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data/icons/hicolor
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/data/icons/meson.build b/data/icons/meson.build
index 8fdf70ba..ff7e1224 100644
--- a/data/icons/meson.build
+++ b/data/icons/meson.build
@@ -99,3 +99,9 @@ install_data(
   join_paths('symbolic', 'apps', '@0@-symbolic.svg'.format(ev_namespace)),
   install_dir: join_paths(ev_datadir, 'icons', 'hicolor', 'symbolic', 'apps'),
 )
+
+if ev_debug
+  devenv = environment()
+  devenv.set('EV_ICONS_DIR', meson.current_source_dir())
+  meson.add_devenv(devenv)
+endif
diff --git a/libview/ev-stock-icons.c b/libview/ev-stock-icons.c
index 0f780d88..55a10149 100644
--- a/libview/ev-stock-icons.c
+++ b/libview/ev-stock-icons.c
@@ -105,6 +105,8 @@ ev_stock_icons_init (void)
 	g_free (dir);
 #else
 	ev_icons_path = g_build_filename (EVINCEDATADIR, "icons", NULL);
+	if (g_getenv ("EV_ICONS_DIR") != NULL)
+		ev_icons_path = g_build_filename (g_getenv ("EV_ICONS_DIR"), NULL);
 #endif
 
         factory = gtk_icon_factory_new ();
@@ -144,4 +146,3 @@ ev_stock_icons_shutdown (void)
 {
 	g_free (ev_icons_path);
 }
-