diff --git a/setup_virtualenv.sh b/setup_virtualenv.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..c9d3d26
--- /dev/null
+++ b/setup_virtualenv.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Setup script for installing into a virtualenv to avoid messing with
+# system packages
+
+if [ ! -e /usr/bin/virtualenv ] ; then
+    echo -e "virtualenv NOT found, run sudo easy_install virtualenv"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+export VIRTUALENV_PATH=${PWD}/virtualenv
+virtualenv --no-site-packages $VIRTUALENV_PATH
+source $VIRTUALENV_PATH/bin/activate
+
+if [ ! -e $VIRTUALENV_PATH/bin/nosetests ] ; then
+        easy_install nose
+fi
+
+pip install -r requirements.txt
+
+echo "Run \"source $VIRTUALENV_PATH/bin/activate\" to activate this virtualenv."
+
+