diff --git a/DAMASK_env.zsh b/DAMASK_env.zsh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..521bfe8e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/DAMASK_env.zsh
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+# sets up an environment for DAMASK on bash
+# usage:  source DAMASK_env.sh
+
+if [ "$OSTYPE" = "linux-gnu" ] || [ "$OSTYPE" = 'linux' ]; then
+  DAMASK_ROOT=$(readlink -f "`dirname ${(%):-%N}`")
+else
+  print 'Not done yet'
+fi
+
+[[ -f $HOME/.damask/damask.conf ]] && source $HOME/.damask/damask.conf || source /etc/damask.conf
+
+# if DAMASK_BIN is present and not in $PATH, add it
+#if [[ [[ "x$DAMASK_BIN" != "x" ]] && ! `echo ":$PATH:" | grep $DAMASK_BIN:` ]]; then
+  export PATH=$DAMASK_BIN:$PATH
+#fi
+
+SOLVER=`which DAMASK_spectral 2>/dev/null`
+if [ "x$SOLVER" = "x" ]; then
+  export SOLVER='Not found!'
+fi
+PROCESSING=`which postResults 2>/dev/null`
+if [ "x$PROCESSING" = "x" ]; then
+  export PROCESSING='Not found!'
+fi
+
+# according to http://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/topic/501500
+# this seems to make sense for the stack size
+FREE=`which free 2>/dev/null`
+if [ "x$FREE" != "x" ]; then
+  freeMem=`free -k | grep -E '(Mem|Speicher):' | awk '{print $4;}'`
+  heap=`expr $freeMem / 2`
+  stack=`expr $freeMem / 2`
+
+  # http://superuser.com/questions/220059/what-parameters-has-ulimit             
+  ulimit -s $stack      2>/dev/null # maximum stack size (kB)
+  ulimit -d $heap       2>/dev/null # maximum heap size (kB)
+fi
+ulimit -c 2000        2>/dev/null # core  file size (512-byte blocks)
+ulimit -v unlimited   2>/dev/null # maximum virtual memory size
+ulimit -m unlimited   2>/dev/null # maximum physical memory size
+
+# disable output in case of scp
+if [ ! -z "$PS1" ]; then
+  echo
+  echo Düsseldorf Advanced Materials Simulation Kit - DAMASK
+  echo Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung, Düsseldorf
+  echo http://damask.mpie.de
+  echo
+  echo Using environment with ...
+  echo "DAMASK             $DAMASK_ROOT"
+  [[ "x$SOLVER"       != "x" ]] && echo "Spectral Solver    $SOLVER" 
+  [[ "x$PROCESSING"   != "x" ]] && echo "Post Processing    $PROCESSING"
+  echo "Multithreading     DAMASK_NUM_THREADS=$DAMASK_NUM_THREADS"
+  [[ "x$PETSC_DIR"   != "x" ]] && echo "PETSc location     $PETSC_DIR"
+  [[ "x$PETSC_ARCH"  != "x" ]] && echo "PETSc architecture $PETSC_ARCH"
+  echo "MSC.Marc/Mentat    $MSC_ROOT"
+  echo
+  echo -n "heap  size/MiB     "; echo "`ulimit -d`/1024" | bc
+  echo -n "stack size/MiB     "; echo "`ulimit -s`/1024" | bc
+fi
+
+export DAMASK_NUM_THREADS
+export PYTHONPATH=$DAMASK_ROOT/lib:$PYTHONPATH
+
+for var in BASE STAT SOLVER PROCESSING FREE; do
+  unset "${var}"
+done
+for var in DAMASK IMKL ACML LAPACK MSC FFTW HDF5; do
+  unset "${var}_ROOT"
+done
+