diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 68ad214..bf8a07a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ pom.xml.asc
 /resources/public/js/tags.js
 /resources/public/js/main.js
 .DS_Store
+.vagrant
 /config.json
 /tags.json
 /assocs.json
diff --git a/Vagrantfile b/Vagrantfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4338dcc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Vagrantfile
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+# -*- mode: ruby -*-
+# vi: set ft=ruby :
+
+# Vagrantfile API/syntax version. Don't touch unless you know what you're doing!
+VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION = "2"
+
+Vagrant.configure(VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION) do |config|
+  config.vm.box = "precise64"
+
+  config.vm.hostname = "dakait-dev"
+  config.vm.box_url = "http://files.vagrantup.com/precise64.box"
+
+  config.vm.network :forwarded_port, guest: 3000, host: 3000
+
+  config.vm.provider :virtualbox do |vb|
+	  vb.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--memory", "2048"]
+	  vb.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--cpus", "2"]   
+	  vb.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--ioapic", "on"]
+  end  
+
+  #
+  ppaRepos = [
+  ]
+
+  # The postgres/gis family of products is not in the list intentionally since they
+  # are explicitly installed in one of the scripts
+  packageList = [
+	  "git",
+	  "build-essential",
+	  "openjdk-7-jdk"
+  ];
+
+  if Dir.glob("#{File.dirname(__FILE__)}/.vagrant/machines/default/*/id").empty?
+	  pkg_cmd = ""
+
+	  pkg_cmd << "apt-get update -qq; apt-get install -q -y python-software-properties; "
+
+	  if ppaRepos.length > 0
+		  ppaRepos.each { |repo| pkg_cmd << "add-apt-repository -y " << repo << " ; " }
+		  pkg_cmd << "apt-get update -qq; "
+	  end
+
+	  # install packages we need
+	  pkg_cmd << "apt-get install -q -y " + packageList.join(" ") << " ; "
+
+	  # get the latest version of leiningen and setup it up
+	  pkg_cmd << "wget -O /usr/bin/lein  https://raw.github.com/technomancy/leiningen/stable/bin/lein ; "
+	  pkg_cmd << "chmod +x /usr/bin/lein ; "
+
+	  config.vm.provision :shell, :inline => pkg_cmd
+  end
+end
diff --git a/src/dakait/assocs.clj b/src/dakait/assocs.clj
index aaa00b2..136fd29 100644
--- a/src/dakait/assocs.clj
+++ b/src/dakait/assocs.clj
@@ -26,15 +26,20 @@
 ;;
 
 (def assocs (atom {}))
+(def assocs-file (atom ""))
 
-(def assocs-file (join-path (config :config-data-dir) "assocs.json"))
+(defn- figure-assocs-file
+  "Determine where the assocs file should be"
+  []
+  (reset! assocs-file (join-path (config :config-data-dir) "assocs.json")))
 
 (defn load-associations
   "Load associations from our configuration file"
   []
-  (info "Associations file: " assocs-file)
-  (when (.exists (io/file assocs-file))
-    (->> assocs-file
+  (figure-assocs-file)
+  (info "Associations file: " @assocs-file)
+  (when (.exists (io/file @assocs-file))
+    (->> @assocs-file
          slurp
          json/read-str
          (reset! assocs))))
@@ -44,7 +49,7 @@
   [assocs]
   (->> assocs
        json/write-str
-       (spit assocs-file)))
+       (spit @assocs-file)))
 
 (defn- assoc-key
   "Given a file in the remote file system, append the server info for a unique key"
diff --git a/src/dakait/downloader.clj b/src/dakait/downloader.clj
index 0d7ec9f..0f37f0e 100644
--- a/src/dakait/downloader.clj
+++ b/src/dakait/downloader.clj
@@ -17,6 +17,27 @@
 (def download-queue (atom (clojure.lang.PersistentQueue/EMPTY)))
 (def download-states (atom {})) ;; directly modified by download threads
 
+(defn- make-download-command
+  "Makes operating system specific script + scp command"
+  [src dest tmp-file]
+  (let [os (clojure.string/lower-case (System/getProperty "os.name"))
+        scp-command (list "scp"
+                          "-i" (config :private-key) ;; identity file
+                          "-B" ;; batch run
+                          "-r" ;; recursive if directory
+                          "-o" "StrictHostKeyChecking=no"
+                          "-P" (config :sftp-port) ;; the port to use
+                          (str (config :username) "@" (config :sftp-host) ":\"" src "\"") ;; source
+                          dest)]
+    (cond
+      (= os "mac os x") (concat (list "script" "-t" "0" "-q" tmp-file)
+                                scp-command)
+      (= os "linux") (list
+                       "script" "-f" "-e" "-q"
+                       "-c" (apply str (interpose " " scp-command))
+                       tmp-file))))
+      
+
 ;; Download management
 ;;
 (defn- download
@@ -24,15 +45,7 @@
   [src dest]
   (.mkdirs (io/file dest)) ;; Make sure the destination directory exists
   (let [tmp-file (.getAbsolutePath (java.io.File/createTempFile "downloader" "txt"))
-        args (list 
-               "script" "-t" "0" "-q" tmp-file
-               "scp"
-               "-i" (config :private-key) ;; identity file
-               "-B" ;; batch run
-               "-r" ;; recursive if directory
-               "-P" (config :sftp-port) ;; the port to use
-               (str (config :username) "@" (config :sftp-host) ":\"" src "\"") ;; source
-               dest)
+        args (make-download-command src dest tmp-file)
         update-to-map (fn [s]
                         (when-not (empty? s)
                           (let [parts (remove empty? (clojure.string/split s #"\s"))]