diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 9755a08..53a58f3 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 /dependencies/*
 !/dependencies/.placeholder
 
+.localenv.bashrc
+
 # ignore endianness check
 /.endianness
 /resources/check_endianness
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e007fe8..4e4faa8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -45,7 +45,9 @@ point to `bin/lib`.
 - `git clone` this repository
 - if using bash:
   - `source` the file `setupenv.bashrc` from the project's base directory
-    to load the provided shell environment
+    to load the provided shell environment (local customizations to the
+    environment can be placed in a fiile `.localenv.bashrc` in the project's
+    root directory if necessary)
   - `setup_project`
 - if not using bash or not using the provided environment:
   - `cd` to the project's base directory
diff --git a/setupenv.bashrc b/setupenv.bashrc
index 62aef72..6b007ec 100644
--- a/setupenv.bashrc
+++ b/setupenv.bashrc
@@ -40,6 +40,10 @@ else
     export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$PROJECT_BASE_DIR"/bin/lib:"$LD_LIBRARY_PATH"
 fi
 
+if [ -f "$PROJECT_BASE_DIR/.localenv.bashrc" ]; then
+    source "$PROJECT_BASE_DIR/.localenv.bashrc"
+fi
+
 unset PROJECT_BASE_DIR
 
 echo "done."