diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 81038d84..bf5dad04 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@ TCL_FORMAT ?= utils//tcl-reformat.sh
 IN_ENV = if [ -e env/bin/activate ]; then . env/bin/activate; fi;
 env:
 	virtualenv --python=python3 --system-site-packages env
-	. env/bin/activate; pip install -r requirements.txt
+	$(IN_ENV) pip install -r requirements.txt
 	ln -sf $(PWD)/prjxray env/lib/python3.*/site-packages/
-	. env/bin/activate; python -c "import yaml" || (echo "Unable to find python-yaml" && exit 1)
+	$(IN_ENV) python -c "import yaml" || (echo "Unable to find python-yaml" && exit 1)
 
 build:
 	git submodule update --init --recursive
diff --git a/utils/environment.sh b/utils/environment.sh
index 7f773271..61f1afb2 100644
--- a/utils/environment.sh
+++ b/utils/environment.sh
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@ export XRAY_DIR="$( dirname "$XRAY_UTILS_DIR" )"
 export XRAY_DATABASE_DIR="${XRAY_DIR}/database"
 export XRAY_TOOLS_DIR="${XRAY_DIR}/build/tools"
 
+if [ -e "${XRAY_DIR}/env/bin/activate" ]; then
+  source "${XRAY_DIR}/env/bin/activate"
+fi
+
 # misc
 export XRAY_PART_YAML="${XRAY_DATABASE_DIR}/${XRAY_DATABASE}/${XRAY_PART}.yaml"
 export PYTHONPATH="${XRAY_DIR}:${XRAY_DIR}/third_party/fasm:$PYTHONPATH"