diff --git a/setup/build-on-dtn.sh b/setup/build-on-dtn.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..36d87bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/setup/build-on-dtn.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+#here we'll attempt to build a version of delta on the dtns
+#that is compatible with the version in our current delta/4:0 container
+#current version of build is https://github.com/rkube/delta/blob/master/container/delta-outside/Dockerfile
+
+#since cori scratch is currently visible on the dtns, we'll build there
+#since it's faster than GPFS
+
+#we'll assume you want to build from scratch, will remove any 
+#existing builds, so be careful
+
+export build_dir=/global/cscratch1/sd/stephey/delta/build_dir
+rm -rf $build_dir
+mkdir -p $build_dir
+cd $build_dir
+
+##############mpich#################
+
+export mpich=3.3
+export mpich_prefix=mpich-$mpich
+wget https://www.mpich.org/static/downloads/$mpich/$mpich_prefix.tar.gz
+tar xvzf $mpich_prefix.tar.gz
+cd $mpich_prefix
+./configure  --prefix=$build_dir/mpich
+make -j 8
+make install
+
+export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$build_dir/mpich/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
+export PATH=$build_dir/mpich/bin:$PATH
+
+#----------------------------------
+
+##############cmake################
+
+#next cmake. maybe could have gotten away with doing it via
+#conda but too late
+
+cd $build_dir
+wget https://github.com/Kitware/CMake/releases/download/v3.23.2/cmake-3.23.2.tar.gz
+tar xvzf cmake-3.23.2.tar.gz
+cd cmake-3.23.2
+./bootstrap --prefix=$build_dir/cmake && make -j 8 && make install
+
+export PATH=$build_dir/cmake/bin:$PATH
+
+#----------------------------------
+
+###############zeromq##############
+
+cd $build_dir
+wget https://github.com/zeromq/libzmq/releases/download/v4.3.4/zeromq-4.3.4.tar.gz
+tar vxf zeromq-4.3.4.tar.gz
+cd zeromq-4.3.4
+./configure --prefix=$build_dir/zeromq &&  make -j 8 && make install
+
+export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$build_dir/zeromq/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
+
+#---------------------------------
+
+##############python##############
+
+module load python
+conda create -n delta-dtn python=3.8 -y
+source activate delta-dtn
+python -m pip install --no-cache-dir -r ../requirements.txt
+#we can get away with this here since we're bringing our own mpich stack
+#and actually we don't want to link to cray mpich anyway
+python -m pip install mpi4py
+export conda_env=$CONDA_PREFIX
+conda deactivate
+module unload python
+
+#--------------------------------
+
+#############adios2##############
+
+cd $build_dir
+wget https://github.com/ornladios/ADIOS2/archive/94c2e377eba2947ae9739c1dd42f616a1296f12a.tar.gz
+tar xvf 94c2e377eba2947ae9739c1dd42f616a1296f12a.tar.gz
+mv ADIOS2-94c2e377eba2947ae9739c1dd42f616a1296f12a adios2-devel
+rm -rf adios2-build
+mkdir adios2-build
+cd adios2-build
+cmake                                                        \
+        -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$build_dir/adios2             \
+        -DZeroMQ_ROOT=$build_dir/zeromq                      \
+        -DZeroMQ_INCLUDE_DIRS=$build_dir/zeromq/include      \
+        -DZeroMQ_LIBRARY_DIRS=$build_dir/zeromq/lib          \
+        -DPython_ROOT=$conda_env                             \
+        -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release                           \
+        -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON                               \
+        -DADIOS2_USE_MPI=ON                                  \
+        -DADIOS2_USE_Python=ON                               \
+        -DADIOS2_BUILD_EXAMPLES=OFF                          \
+        -DADIOS2_BUILD_TESTING=OFF                           \
+        -DADIOS2_USE_ADIOS1=OFF                              \
+        -DADIOS2_USE_HDF5=OFF                                \
+        -DADIOS2_USE_SST=ON                                  \
+        -DADIOS2_USE_Profiling=OFF                           \
+        -DADIOS2_USE_DATAMAN=ON                              \
+        -DADIOS2_USE_ZeroMQ=ON                               \
+        ../adios2-devel
+make -j 8 && make install
+
+#--------------------------------
diff --git a/setup/setup-delta-dtn.sh b/setup/setup-delta-dtn.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..518ca1a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/setup/setup-delta-dtn.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+export build_dir=/global/cscratch1/sd/stephey/delta/build_dir
+
+#source custom python env
+module load python
+source activate delta-dtn
+
+#point to adios2 python lib
+export PYTHONPATH=$build_dir/adios2/lib/python3.8/site-packages/adios2:$PYTHONPATH