diff --git a/src/Wintel64/ProcessHiLites/ProcessHilites.cpp b/src/Wintel64/ProcessHiLites/ProcessHilites.cpp
index b98d94a..68ded65 100644
--- a/src/Wintel64/ProcessHiLites/ProcessHilites.cpp
+++ b/src/Wintel64/ProcessHiLites/ProcessHilites.cpp
@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@
 #define CVBlack 0,0,0
 #define CVCyan 255,255,153
 
+#ifdef Linux
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#endif
+
+
 using namespace std;
 using namespace cv;
 
@@ -51,6 +56,7 @@ int leftSide = 320;  // These values are very specific to the setup used in prog
 int top = 120;  // It woould be better to have these passed in as parameters from the trafficReports program.   **********************
 
 string inLine, lhs, rhs;
+
 string dataPathPrefix;
 
 
@@ -88,6 +94,13 @@ bool blackFrame(Mat inFrame){
 int main(){
 // Get data path prefix from ProcessHiLites.cfg
 
+#ifdef Linux
+        // IMPROVE ME : does $HOME/VST/ProcessHilities.cfg exist ? 
+        // if it does:  use it
+        // if not existing : use default environment values
+        dataPathPrefix = (string)secure_getenv("HOME") + DIR_SEP + "VST";
+        cout << "dataPathPrefix = " << dataPathPrefix << endl;
+#endif
 	string lhsString[23] = {
 		"dataPathPrefix",
 		"CropLeft",
@@ -118,10 +131,12 @@ int main(){
 				while (1){ getchar(); }
 			}
 			switch (lineNo){
+#ifndef Linux
 			case 0:
 				dataPathPrefix = rhs;
 				cout << "dataPathPrefix = " << dataPathPrefix << endl;
 				break;
+#endif
 			case 1:
 				leftSide = stoi(rhs);
 				cout << "leftSide = " << leftSide << endl;
diff --git a/src/Wintel64/common/make.rules b/src/Wintel64/common/make.rules
index 3160c2c..890e014 100644
--- a/src/Wintel64/common/make.rules
+++ b/src/Wintel64/common/make.rules
@@ -1,19 +1,23 @@
-CXXFLAGS  = -Wall -Werror -g
-LDLIBS    = -lopencv_core -lopencv_highgui -lopencv_imgproc
 
 ifeq ($(shell uname),Darwin)
+LDLIBS    = -lopencv_core -lopencv_highgui -lopencv_imgproc
 # Go get opencv3:
 #   brew install homebrew/science/opencv3
 # Here's where that lands:
 CPPFLAGS  = -I/usr/local/opt/opencv3/include
 LDFLAGS   = -L/usr/local/opt/opencv3/lib
 LDLIBS   += -lopencv_videoio 
+DEBUG_FLAGS = -g
 endif
 
 ifeq ($(shell uname),Linux)
+OS_EXTRA_FLAGS = -DLinux
+LDLIBS    = `pkg-config --cflags --libs opencv`
 CPPFLAGS  = -I/usr/include/opencv
+#DEBUG_FLAGS = -g
 endif
 
+CXXFLAGS  = -Wall -Werror ${DEBUG_FLAGS} ${OS_EXTRA_FLAGS}
 
 # clang and g++ require c++11 for in-class const initialization
 CXXFLAGS += -std=c++11