diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 99d88bc..c3cd5e7 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -5,3 +5,4 @@
 /tmp
 /docs/_build
 /.*.html
+/local.rake
diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index 49719ad..2a3cce3 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -12,6 +12,12 @@ if Chake::VERSION < '0.4'
   fail "Please upgrade to chake 0.4+"
 end
 
+begin
+  load 'local.rake'
+rescue LoadError
+  # nothing
+end
+
 config = YAML.load_file(config_file)
 ips = YAML.load_file(ips_file)
 $nodes.each do |node|
diff --git a/local.rake.example b/local.rake.example
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..072a4a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/local.rake.example
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# copy this file to local.rake and adjust to your local environment
+ENV['CHAKE_RSYNC_OPTIONS'] = '--exclude tmp/dump'
--
libgit2 0.21.2