@@ -19,3 +19,7 @@
 # http://numenta.org/licenses/
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 __version__ = "0.3.0.dev0"
+
+import os
+NUPIC_ROOT = os.environ.get('NUPIC', os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__)))
+
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
# Numenta Platform for Intelligent Computing (NuPIC)
# Copyright (C) 2013, Numenta, Inc.  Unless you have an agreement
# with Numenta, Inc., for a separate license for this software code, the
# following terms and conditions apply:
#
# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3 as
# published by the Free Software Foundation.
#
# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
# See the GNU General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
# along with this program.  If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses.
#
# http://numenta.org/licenses/
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
__version__ = "0.3.0.dev0"

Have you tried get the absolute path of `__file__` and so discard $NUPIC completely?