diff --git a/electrum-env b/electrum-env
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..0e2cc70f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/electrum-env
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# This script creates a virtualenv named 'env' and installs all
+# python dependencies before activating the env and running Electrum.
+# If 'env' already exists, it is activated and Electrum is started
+# without any installations. Additionally, the PYTHONPATH environment
+# variable is set properly before running Electrum.
+#
+# python-qt and its dependencies will still need to be installed with
+# your package manager.
+
+if [ -e ./env/bin/activate ]; then
+	source ./env/bin/activate
+else
+	virtualenv env
+	source ./env/bin/activate
+	python setup.py install
+fi
+
+export PYTHONPATH=/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages:$PYTHONPATH
+
+./electrum
+
+deactivate
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index c778e450..6486aea3 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -69,8 +69,8 @@ setup(
         'ecdsa>=0.9',
         'pbkdf2',
         'requests',
-        'pyasn1',
         'pyasn1-modules',
+        'pyasn1',
         'qrcode',
         'SocksiPy-branch',
         'protobuf',