diff --git a/clippy_lints/src/utils/cargo.rs b/clippy_lints/src/utils/cargo.rs
index f81fcbc38ab..48a97f2f1fc 100644
--- a/clippy_lints/src/utils/cargo.rs
+++ b/clippy_lints/src/utils/cargo.rs
@@ -65,8 +65,13 @@ impl From<json::DecoderError> for Error {
     }
 }
 
-pub fn metadata() -> Result<Metadata, Error> {
-    let output = Command::new("cargo").args(&["metadata", "--no-deps"]).output()?;
+pub fn metadata(manifest_path: Option<String>) -> Result<Metadata, Error> {
+    let mut cmd = Command::new("cargo");
+    cmd.arg("metadata").arg("--no-deps");
+    if let Some(ref mani) = manifest_path {
+        cmd.arg(mani);
+    }
+    let output = cmd.output()?;
     let stdout = from_utf8(&output.stdout)?;
     Ok(json::decode(stdout)?)
 }
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index de3361d514f..cf57926440b 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -129,7 +129,8 @@ pub fn main() {
     };
 
     if let Some("clippy") = std::env::args().nth(1).as_ref().map(AsRef::as_ref) {
-        let mut metadata = cargo::metadata().expect("could not obtain cargo metadata");
+        let manifest_path = std::env::args().skip(2).find(|val| val.starts_with("--manifest-path="));
+        let mut metadata = cargo::metadata(manifest_path).expect("could not obtain cargo metadata");
         assert_eq!(metadata.version, 1);
         for target in metadata.packages.remove(0).targets {
             let args = std::env::args().skip(2);
diff --git a/tests/versioncheck.rs b/tests/versioncheck.rs
index b2a2f416a8f..e216c801546 100644
--- a/tests/versioncheck.rs
+++ b/tests/versioncheck.rs
@@ -3,9 +3,9 @@ use clippy_lints::utils::cargo;
 
 #[test]
 fn check_that_clippy_lints_has_the_same_version_as_clippy() {
-    let clippy_meta = cargo::metadata().expect("could not obtain cargo metadata");
+    let clippy_meta = cargo::metadata(None).expect("could not obtain cargo metadata");
     std::env::set_current_dir(std::env::current_dir().unwrap().join("clippy_lints")).unwrap();
-    let clippy_lints_meta = cargo::metadata().expect("could not obtain cargo metadata");
+    let clippy_lints_meta = cargo::metadata(None).expect("could not obtain cargo metadata");
     assert_eq!(clippy_lints_meta.packages[0].version, clippy_meta.packages[0].version);
     for package in &clippy_meta.packages[0].dependencies {
         if package.name == "clippy_lints" {