diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 041f03b8a..0e5f9a8a7 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -16,4 +16,4 @@ For a description of our design decisions, see
 2. sudo apt-get install git
 3. git clone https://github.com/amplab/ray.git
 4. cd ray
-5. bash setup.sh
+5. ./setup.sh
diff --git a/setup.sh b/setup.sh
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index d0ef95df9..61bee8917
--- a/setup.sh
+++ b/setup.sh
@@ -1,15 +1,49 @@
-sudo apt-get update
-sudo apt-get install -y git cmake build-essential autoconf libtool python-dev python-numpy python-pip libboost-all-dev unzip
+#!/bin/bash
+
+platform="unknown"
+unamestr=`uname`
+if [[ "$unamestr" == "Linux" ]]; then
+  echo "Platform is linux."
+  platform="linux"
+elif [[ "$unamestr" == "Darwin" ]]; then
+  echo "Platform is macosx."
+  platform="macosx"
+else
+  echo "Unrecognized platform."
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+if [[ $platform == "macosx" ]]; then
+  # check that brew is installed
+  which -s brew
+  if [[ $? != 0 ]]; then
+    echo "Could not find brew, please install brew (see http://brew.sh/)."
+    exit 1
+  else
+    echo "Updating brew."
+    brew update
+  fi
+fi
+
+
+if [[ $platform == "linux" ]]; then
+  sudo apt-get update
+  sudo apt-get install -y git cmake build-essential autoconf libtool python-dev python-numpy python-pip libboost-all-dev unzip
+elif [[ $platform == "macosx" ]]; then
+  brew install git cmake autoconf libtool boost
+  sudo easy_install pip
+  sudo pip install numpy
+fi
 sudo pip install -r requirements.txt
 cd thirdparty
-bash download_thirdparty.sh
-bash build_thirdparty.sh
+./download_thirdparty.sh
+./build_thirdparty.sh
 cd numbuf
 cd python
 sudo python setup.py install
 mkdir -p ../../../build
 cd ../../../build
 cmake ..
-sudo make install
+make install
 cd ../lib/python
 sudo python setup.py install
diff --git a/thirdparty/build_thirdparty.sh b/thirdparty/build_thirdparty.sh
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
diff --git a/thirdparty/download_thirdparty.sh b/thirdparty/download_thirdparty.sh
old mode 100644
new mode 100755