diff --git a/docs/release_notes/version_0.5_updates.rst b/docs/release_notes/version_0.5_updates.rst
index d607591d..a8e66403 100644
--- a/docs/release_notes/version_0.5_updates.rst
+++ b/docs/release_notes/version_0.5_updates.rst
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ Version 0.5.3
 Fixes
 ++++++
 - fixed issue when paths starting with ~ used for :ref:`cache directories <caching>` were not correctly expanded
+- changed the pyfdb dependency
 
 
 Version 0.5.2
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 5c19020c..6792c5b0 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ install_requires =
     multiurl
     netcdf4
     pdbufr>=0.11.0
-    pyfdb
+    pyfdb @ git+https://github.com/ecmwf/pyfdb.git
     pyodc
     pyyaml
     scipy