If the setup file is present and will be read,

preface reading it with setting of defaults
This alleviates the requirement for the defaults
to explicitly lead the custom setup file

tcltk/netgen.tcl.in

@@ -485,6 +485,9 @@ proc netgen::lvs { name1 name2 {setupfile setup.tcl} {logfile comp.out} args} {
       if {![catch {open $setupfile r} fsetup]} {
 	 set sline 0
 	 set command {}
+	 # preface reading of setup file with defaults
+	 netgen::permute default
+	 netgen::property default
 	 while {[gets $fsetup line] >= 0} {
 	    incr sline
 	    append command $line "\n"