diff --git a/CONFIG b/CONFIG
index e3955baca..3a28c2b96 100644
--- a/CONFIG
+++ b/CONFIG
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
-MSC_ROOT=/opt/MSC
-MARC_VERSION=2015
+# "set syntax" needed only for tcsh (but works with bash etc)
 
-DAMASK_NUM_THREADS=4
+set MSC_ROOT=/opt/MSC
+set MARC_VERSION=2015
 
-ABAQUS_VERSION=6.14-5
+set DAMASK_NUM_THREADS=4
+
+set ABAQUS_VERSION=6.14-5
 #Set DAMASK_BIN if not $DAMASK_ROOT/bin
 #DAMASK_BIN
diff --git a/lib/damask/environment.py b/lib/damask/environment.py
index d9c59a22d..b0256e05d 100644
--- a/lib/damask/environment.py
+++ b/lib/damask/environment.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # -*- coding: UTF-8 no BOM -*-
 
 
-import os,subprocess,shlex
+import os,subprocess,shlex,re
 
 class Environment():
   __slots__ = [ \
@@ -23,10 +23,10 @@ class Environment():
   def get_options(self):
     with open(self.relPath(self.rootDir()+'/CONFIG')) as configFile:
       for line in configFile:
-        l = line.strip()
+        l = re.sub('^set ', '', line).strip()
         if l and not l.startswith('#'):
-          items = l.split('=') + ['','']
-          if items[1] != '':                                # nothing specified
+          items = l.split('=')
+          if len(items) == 2:
             self.options[items[0].upper()] = items[1]
       
   def isAvailable(self,software,Nneeded =-1):