diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/tc-testing/tdc_config.py b/tools/testing/selftests/tc-testing/tdc_config.py
index b6352515c1b5778a6bcd7d40f672be3bb2fbfb11..596558445713f9953b89f08c336345c9b8fca407 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/tc-testing/tdc_config.py
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/tc-testing/tdc_config.py
@@ -17,3 +17,17 @@ NAMES = {
           # Name of the namespace to use
           'NS': 'tcut'
         }
+
+
+ENVIR = { }
+
+# put customizations in tdc_config_local.py
+try:
+    from tdc_config_local import *
+except ImportError as ie:
+    pass
+
+try:
+    NAMES.update(EXTRA_NAMES)
+except NameError as ne:
+    pass
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/tc-testing/tdc_config_local_template.py b/tools/testing/selftests/tc-testing/tdc_config_local_template.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..d48fc732a3996471988d6854f06a30f76ff638cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/tc-testing/tdc_config_local_template.py
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+"""
+tdc_config_local.py - tdc plugin-writer-specified values
+
+Copyright (C) 2017 bjb@mojatatu.com
+"""
+
+import os
+
+ENVIR = os.environ.copy()
+
+ENV_LD_LIBRARY_PATH = os.getenv('LD_LIBRARY_PATH', '')
+ENV_OTHER_LIB = os.getenv('OTHER_LIB', '')
+
+
+# example adding value to NAMES, without editing tdc_config.py
+EXTRA_NAMES = dict()
+EXTRA_NAMES['SOME_BIN'] = os.path.join(os.getenv('OTHER_BIN', ''), 'some_bin')
+
+
+# example adding values to ENVIR, without editing tdc_config.py
+ENVIR['VALGRIND_LIB'] = '/usr/lib/valgrind'
+ENVIR['VALGRIND_BIN'] = '/usr/bin/valgrind'
+ENVIR['VGDB_BIN'] = '/usr/bin/vgdb'