diff --git a/CONFIG b/CONFIG
index 3a28c2b96..17561c9cd 100644
--- a/CONFIG
+++ b/CONFIG
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
-# "set syntax" needed only for tcsh (but works with bash etc)
+# "set"-syntax needed only for tcsh (but works with bash and zsh)
 
 set MSC_ROOT=/opt/MSC
 set MARC_VERSION=2015
 
-set DAMASK_NUM_THREADS=4
+set DAMASK_NUM_THREADS = 4
 
 set ABAQUS_VERSION=6.14-5
-#Set DAMASK_BIN if not $DAMASK_ROOT/bin
-#DAMASK_BIN
+set DAMASK_BIN=${DAMASK_ROOT}/lib
diff --git a/DAMASK_env.sh b/DAMASK_env.sh
index 535708ed4..760ee056a 100644
--- a/DAMASK_env.sh
+++ b/DAMASK_env.sh
@@ -1,15 +1,20 @@
 # sets up an environment for DAMASK on bash
 # usage:  source DAMASK_env.sh
 
+
 if [ "$OSTYPE" == "linux-gnu" ] || [ "$OSTYPE" == 'linux' ]; then
-  DAMASK_ROOT=$(python -c "import os,sys; print(os.path.realpath(os.path.expanduser(sys.argv[1])))" "`dirname $BASH_SOURCE`")
+  DAMASK_ROOT=$(python -c "import os,sys; print(os.path.realpath(os.path.expanduser(sys.argv[1])))" "$(dirname $BASH_SOURCE)")
 else
   [[ "${BASH_SOURCE::1}" == "/" ]] && BASE="" || BASE="`pwd`/"
   STAT=$(stat "`dirname $BASE$BASH_SOURCE`")
   DAMASK_ROOT=${STAT##* }
 fi
 
-[[ -f $HOME/.damask/damask.conf ]] && source $HOME/.damask/damask.conf || source /etc/damask.conf
+# allows to source the same file for tcsh and bash, with and without space around =
+set() {
+    export $1$2$3
+ }
+source $DAMASK_ROOT/CONFIG
 
 # if DAMASK_BIN is present and not in $PATH, add it
 if [[ "x$DAMASK_BIN" != "x" && ! `echo ":$PATH:" | grep $DAMASK_BIN:` ]]; then
@@ -24,6 +29,9 @@ PROCESSING=`which postResults 2>/dev/null`
 if [ "x$PROCESSING" == "x" ]; then
   PROCESSING='Not found!'
 fi
+if [ "x$DAMASK_NUM_THREADS" == "x" ]; then
+  DAMASK_NUM_THREADS=1
+fi
 
 # according to http://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/topic/501500
 # this seems to make sense for the stack size
@@ -68,10 +76,12 @@ fi
 export DAMASK_NUM_THREADS
 export PYTHONPATH=$DAMASK_ROOT/lib:$PYTHONPATH
 
-for var in BASE STAT SOLVER PROCESSING FREE; do
+for var in BASE STAT SOLVER PROCESSING FREE DAMASK_BIN; do
   unset "${var}"
 done
-for var in DAMASK IMKL ACML LAPACK MSC FFTW HDF5; do
+for var in DAMASK MSC; do
   unset "${var}_ROOT"
 done
-
+for var in ABAQUS MARC; do
+  unset "${var}_VERSION"
+done
diff --git a/DAMASK_env.zsh b/DAMASK_env.zsh
index b4b2d6953..b3666b34b 100644
--- a/DAMASK_env.zsh
+++ b/DAMASK_env.zsh
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-# sets up an environment for DAMASK on bash
-# usage:  source DAMASK_env.sh
+# sets up an environment for DAMASK on zsh
+# usage:  source DAMASK_env.zsh
+
 
 if [ "$OSTYPE" = "linux-gnu" ] || [ "$OSTYPE" = 'linux' ]; then
   DAMASK_ROOT=$(readlink -f "`dirname ${(%):-%N}`")
@@ -7,12 +8,17 @@ else
   print 'Not done yet'
 fi
 
-[[ -f $HOME/.damask/damask.conf ]] && source $HOME/.damask/damask.conf || source /etc/damask.conf
+# allows to source the same file for tcsh and zsh, with and without space around =
+set() {
+    export $1$2$3
+ }
+source $DAMASK_ROOT/CONFIG
 
 # if DAMASK_BIN is present and not in $PATH, add it
-#if [[ [[ "x$DAMASK_BIN" != "x" ]] && ! `echo ":$PATH:" | grep $DAMASK_BIN:` ]]; then
+MATCH=`echo ":$PATH:" | grep $DAMASK_BIN:`
+if [[ ( "x$DAMASK_BIN" != "x" ) && ( "x$MATCH" = "x" ) ]]; then
   export PATH=$DAMASK_BIN:$PATH
-#fi
+fi
 
 SOLVER=`which DAMASK_spectral 2>/dev/null`
 if [ "x$SOLVER" = "x" ]; then
@@ -22,6 +28,9 @@ PROCESSING=`which postResults 2>/dev/null`
 if [ "x$PROCESSING" = "x" ]; then
   export PROCESSING='Not found!'
 fi
+if [ "x$DAMASK_NUM_THREADS" = "x" ]; then
+  DAMASK_NUM_THREADS=1
+fi
 
 # according to http://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/topic/501500
 # this seems to make sense for the stack size
@@ -65,10 +74,12 @@ fi
 export DAMASK_NUM_THREADS
 export PYTHONPATH=$DAMASK_ROOT/lib:$PYTHONPATH
 
-for var in BASE STAT SOLVER PROCESSING FREE; do
+for var in BASE STAT SOLVER PROCESSING FREE DAMASK_BIN MATCH; do
   unset "${var}"
 done
-for var in DAMASK IMKL ACML LAPACK MSC FFTW HDF5; do
+for var in DAMASK MSC; do
   unset "${var}_ROOT"
 done
-
+for var in ABAQUS MARC; do
+  unset "${var}_VERSION"
+done