diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 83407b79433a6730c5518fd913fc027fb8008227..d9d5473cbcd9b172ec8aa9384f90d9b96df0e927 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -9,3 +9,11 @@ you get an error message like
 ```ImportError: No module named v2```
 
 this may mean that you need to use a newer version.
+
+On an Ubuntu GNU/Linux 14.04 system, you should be able to install the
+required software using the following commands:
+
+```
+sudo apt-get install pip python-dev
+sudo pip install python-novaclient python-cinderclient oslo.config netifaces
+```