Using RPM as non-root

[Christian Goetze <cg sensage com>]

Is there a way to run rpm as non-root in such a way that it can refer to 
the /var/lib/rpm database in read-only mode to resolve dependencies, but 
write to the rpm database specified in --db-path?

Alternatively, is there a safe way to copy or export the database into 
the one specified in --db-path?
--
cg