diff --git a/conf/spark-env.sh.template b/conf/spark-env.sh.template
index c978db00d9574553ea37c10dae516ce9c7a30f73..eefd1f86c539b62f670081a27fb0acd16261d340 100755
--- a/conf/spark-env.sh.template
+++ b/conf/spark-env.sh.template
@@ -19,6 +19,14 @@
 # - SPARK_JAVA_OPTS, to set the jvm options for executor backend. Note: This is
 #   only for node-specific options, whereas app-specific options should be set
 #   in the application.
-#   Examples of node-speicic options : -Dspark.local.dir, GC related options.
+#   Examples of node-specific options : -Dspark.local.dir, GC related options.
 #   Examples of app-specific options : -Dspark.serializer
 
+# Hadoop version to build against
+# export SPARK_HADOOP_VERSION=1.0.4
+
+# Uncomment this when using a Hadoop version with YARN
+# export SPARK_WITH_YARN=true
+
+# Extra arguments to pass to `java` when building with SBT
+# export EXTRA_BUILD_ARGS="$EXTRA_BUILD_ARGS -Xmx8g"
diff --git a/make-distribution.sh b/make-distribution.sh
index 70aff418c709267cceb059a09a49a71b4ac30120..846548617a006380ff5d1187751f39ca971f7b5d 100755
--- a/make-distribution.sh
+++ b/make-distribution.sh
@@ -50,6 +50,11 @@ SPARK_HADOOP_VERSION=1.0.4
 SPARK_WITH_YARN=false
 MAKE_TGZ=false
 
+# Load configuration
+if [ -f "$FWDIR/conf/spark-env.sh" ]; then
+  source "$FWDIR/conf/spark-env.sh"
+fi
+
 # Parse arguments
 while (( "$#" )); do
   case $1 in
diff --git a/sbt/sbt b/sbt/sbt
index 397895276c12dad24882cb0059386a0db6903dd8..a38a2985d145c4da918c428ef178f9de55aa6063 100755
--- a/sbt/sbt
+++ b/sbt/sbt
@@ -17,12 +17,15 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 #
 
-EXTRA_ARGS=""
-if [ "$MESOS_HOME" != "" ]; then
-  EXTRA_ARGS="-Djava.library.path=$MESOS_HOME/lib/java"
-fi
-
 export SPARK_HOME=$(cd "$(dirname $0)/.." 2>&1 >/dev/null ; pwd)
 export SPARK_TESTING=1  # To put test classes on classpath
 
-java -Xmx1200m -XX:MaxPermSize=350m -XX:ReservedCodeCacheSize=128m $EXTRA_ARGS -jar $SPARK_HOME/sbt/sbt-launch-*.jar "$@"
+if [ -f "$SPARK_HOME/conf/spark-env.sh" ]; then
+  source "$SPARK_HOME/conf/spark-env.sh"
+fi
+
+if [ "$MESOS_HOME" != "" ]; then
+  EXTRA_BUILD_ARGS="$EXTRA_BUILD_ARGS -Djava.library.path=$MESOS_HOME/lib/java"
+fi
+
+java -Xmx1200m -XX:MaxPermSize=350m -XX:ReservedCodeCacheSize=128m $EXTRA_BUILD_ARGS -jar $SPARK_HOME/sbt/sbt-launch-*.jar "$@"