diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d4b9c01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+BINARY_DEPS := (R protobuf )
+R_DEPS := (BrailleR sonify reticulate opencpu extrafont)
+PIP_BIN := pip
+PIP_REQ_TXT := requirements.txt
+
+default: all
+
+all: deps r_deps py_deps
+	echo "All deps done"
+
+r_deps:
+	R --no-save < check_deps.R || echo "Some R libraries where not found"
+
+py_deps:
+	$(PIP_BIN) install -r $(PIP_REQ_TXT)
+
+deps:
+	which gfortran || echo "GNU Fortran not found"
+	which R || echo "R programming language not found"
+
diff --git a/check_deps.R b/check_deps.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c6704a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/check_deps.R
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+library(extrafont)
+library(sonify)
+library(reticulate)
+library(opencpu)
diff --git a/requirements.R b/requirements.R
index 28ef4fc..35ab3e0 100644
--- a/requirements.R
+++ b/requirements.R
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+# selects cran mirror in Manitoba
+chooseCRANmirror(ind=13)
 pkgs <- c(
   "BrailleR", # Braille layers
   "sonify", # sonify layers
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d7962d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+louis