diff --git a/python/env.sh b/python/env.sh
index ec3b52f..c9a6245 100644
--- a/python/env.sh
+++ b/python/env.sh
@@ -12,18 +12,11 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 # sourcing this file is needed to make local development and integration testing work
-export VOLTHA_BASE=$PWD
 
-# load local python virtualenv if exists, otherwise create it
-VENVDIR="venv-$(uname -s | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')"
-if [ ! -e "$VENVDIR/.built" ]; then
-    echo "~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"
-    echo "Initializing OS-appropriate virtual env."
-    echo "This will take a few minutes."
-    echo "~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"
-    make venv
+# load local python virtualenv if exists
+VENVDIR="venv-volthago"
+if [ -e "$VENVDIR/bin/activate" ]; then
+    . $VENVDIR/bin/activate
+else
+   echo "Run 'make venv' to setup python development environment"
 fi
-. $VENVDIR/bin/activate
-
-# add top-level voltha dir to pythonpath
-export PYTHONPATH=$VOLTHA_BASE/$VENVDIR/lib/python2.7/site-packages:$PYTHONPATH:$VOLTHA_BASE:$VOLTHA_BASE/cli:$VOLTHA_BASE/protos/third_party