diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 1376fbe..0055e40 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -69,14 +69,14 @@
 	mkdir -p local_imports
 ifdef LOCAL_PROTOS
 	mkdir -p local_imports/voltha-protos/dist
-	cp ../../voltha-protos/dist/*.tar.gz local_imports/voltha-protos/dist/
+	cp ${LOCAL_PROTOS}/dist/*.tar.gz local_imports/voltha-protos/dist/
 endif
 
 local-pyvoltha:
 	mkdir -p local_imports
 ifdef LOCAL_PYVOLTHA
 	mkdir -p local_imports/pyvoltha/dist
-	cp ../../pyvoltha/dist/*.tar.gz local_imports/pyvoltha/dist/
+	cp ${LOCAL_PYVOLTHA}/dist/*.tar.gz local_imports/pyvoltha/dist/
 endif
 
 ## lint and unit tests
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0db8417
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+# ofagent-py
+
+ofagent-py provides an OpenFlow management interface for Voltha.
+This is an earlier implementation in Python / twisted.
+This has been rewrite in Golang for performance/scalability reasons.
+
+#### Building
+
+git clone https://gerrit.opencord.org/ofagent-py.git
+cd ~/source/ofagent-py/
+make docker-build
+
+## Building with a Local Copy of `voltha-protos` or `pyvoltha`
+If you want to build/test using a local copy or `voltha-protos` or `pyvoltha`
+this can be accomplished by using the environment variables `LOCAL_PROTOS` and
+`LOCAL_PYVOLTHA`. These environment variables should be set to the filesystem
+path where the local source is located, e.g.
+
+```bash
+LOCAL_PROTOS=$HOME/src/voltha-protos
+LOCAL_PYVOLTHA=$HOME/src/pyvoltha
+```
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 5859406..bdbe651 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.2.3
+2.2.4-dev