diff --git a/elements/ironic-agent/environment.d/01-ironic-agent.sh b/elements/ironic-agent/environment.d/01-ironic-agent.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4b7592771
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elements/ironic-agent/environment.d/01-ironic-agent.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# backwards compatability with the previous environment
+# variable for the ironic-agent source repository
+if [ -n "${DIB_REPOREF_agent:-}" ]; then
+  echo "WARNING: DIB_REPOREF_agent is deprecated. Please update to use DIB_REPOREF_ironic_agent instead."
+  export DIB_REPOREF_ironic_agent=${DIB_REPOREF_agent}
+fi
diff --git a/elements/ironic-agent/source-repository-ironic-agent b/elements/ironic-agent/source-repository-ironic-agent
index 2109dd1f8..37422952e 100644
--- a/elements/ironic-agent/source-repository-ironic-agent
+++ b/elements/ironic-agent/source-repository-ironic-agent
@@ -1 +1 @@
-agent git /tmp/ironic-python-agent https://git.openstack.org/openstack/ironic-python-agent
+ironic-agent git /tmp/ironic-python-agent https://git.openstack.org/openstack/ironic-python-agent