diff --git a/src/bin/overrides/gnucash-env.in b/src/bin/overrides/gnucash-env.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a33344e6f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/bin/overrides/gnucash-env.in
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# Usage: gnucash-env any-cmd [ args ... ]
+# runs any-cmd in an environment appropriate for gnucash.
+# we'll also add a gnucash-build-env later for running from the install tree.
+
+GNC_MODULE_PATH="${GNC_MODULE_PATH}:@-GNC_PKGLIB_INSTALLDIR-@"
+
+GUILE_LOAD_PATH="${GUILE_LOAD_PATH}:@-G_WRAP_MODULE_DIR-@"
+GUILE_LOAD_PATH="${GUILE_LOAD_PATH}:@-GNC_GUILE_MODULE_DIR-@"
+GUILE_LOAD_PATH="${GUILE_LOAD_PATH}:@-GNC_SCM_INSTALL_DIR-@"
+
+LD_LIBRARY_PATH="${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:${GNC_MODULE_PATH}"
+LD_LIBRARY_PATH="${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:@-GNC_LIB_INSTALLDIR-@"
+LD_LIBRARY_PATH="${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:@-GNC_MODULE_DIR-@"
+
+export GNC_MODULE_PATH
+export GUILE_LOAD_PATH
+export LD_LIBRARY_PATH
+
+exec "$@"