diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index dfa9684b1..7ea65a0d8 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -46,3 +46,4 @@ Trevor Bekolay
 David Mohr
 Nicolas Delaby
 Tom Viner
+Dave Hunt
diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index f03f80889..50813920c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 2.7.0.dev (compared to 2.6.4)
 -----------------------------
 
+- add ability to set command line options by environment variable PYTEST_ADDOPTS.
+
 - fix issue655: work around different ways that cause python2/3
   to leak sys.exc_info into fixtures/tests causing failures in 3rd party code
 
diff --git a/doc/en/customize.txt b/doc/en/customize.txt
index 74d30f7ab..d323dd638 100644
--- a/doc/en/customize.txt
+++ b/doc/en/customize.txt
@@ -60,6 +60,11 @@ progress output, you can write it into a configuration file::
     [pytest]
     addopts = -rsxX -q
 
+Alternatively, you can set a PYTEST_ADDOPTS environment variable to add command
+line options while the environment is in use::
+
+    export PYTEST_ADDOPTS="-rsxX -q"
+
 From now on, running ``pytest`` will add the specified options.
 
 Builtin configuration file options