diff --git a/bin/utils b/bin/utils
index f1e3e6b967f1fe3c5593d0f79e07c9b93e8ea70c..68608148ba00b4504fa1f9f9ba417d4595d3455c 100755
--- a/bin/utils
+++ b/bin/utils
@@ -60,5 +60,9 @@ function deep-rm (){
 }
 
 function sub-env (){
-   (export $(egrep -v '^(GIT_DIR|PYTHONHOME|PYTHONPATH|LD_LIBRARY_PATH|LIBRARY_PATH|PATH)' $ENV_FILE); $1)
+  if [[ -f $ENV_FILE ]]; then
+    (export $(egrep -v '^(GIT_DIR|PYTHONHOME|PYTHONPATH|LD_LIBRARY_PATH|LIBRARY_PATH|PATH)' -f $ENV_FILE); $1)
+  else
+    $1
+  fi
 }