diff --git a/contrib/build-meep.sh b/contrib/build-meep.sh
index 65829a0ec..a0cc6c278 100755
--- a/contrib/build-meep.sh
+++ b/contrib/build-meep.sh
@@ -3,38 +3,108 @@
 # Latest version of this script can be found at:
 #   https://github.com/NanoComp/meep/blob/master/contrib/build-meep.sh
 
+# included LD_PRELOAD for CentOS is needed otherwise
+# this error message is displayed when starting python:
+#   python3 /tmp/test-meep.py
+#   ** failed to load python MPI module (mpi4py)
+#   ** /usr/local/lib64/python3.6/site-packages/mpi4py/MPI.cpython-36m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so: undefined symbol: ompi_mpi_logical8
+
 help ()
 {
     cat << EOF
 
-$1: Download MEEP sources and dependencies, compile, and install
+$1: Download MEEP sources and dependencies, build, and install
 
 Usage: $1 [options]
 EOF
-    sed -ne 's,[ \t]*\(-[^ \t]*\))[^#]*#[ \t]*\(.*\),    \1 \2,p' "$1"
+    sed -ne 's,^[ \t]*\(-[^ \t]*\))[^#]*#[ \t]*\(.*\),    \1 \2,p' "$1"
+    echo ""
+    echo "After installation, environment file 'meep-env.sh' is created in destination path."
     echo ""
     exit 1
 }
 
-[ -z "$1" ] && echo "(use -h for help)"
+gitclone ()
+{
+    repo=${1##*/}
+    name=${repo%%.*}
+    echo $repo $name
+    if [ -d $name ]; then
+        ( cd $name; git pull; )
+    else
+        [ -z "$2" ] || branch="-b $2"
+        git clone --depth=1 $1 $branch
+    fi
+}
+
+autogensh ()
+{
+    LIB64="${DESTDIR}/lib"
+    $centos && LIB64="${DESTDIR}/lib64"
+    LLP="${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:${LIB64}"
+    set -x
+    sh autogen.sh PKG_CONFIG_PATH="${PKG_CONFIG_PATH}" RPATH_FLAGS="${RPATH_FLAGS}" \
+        PYTHON=python3 CC="${CC}" LDFLAGS="${LDFLAGS}" CFLAGS="${CFLAGS}" CPPFLAGS="${CPPFLAGS}" LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LLP} \
+        --enable-shared --prefix="${DESTDIR}" --libdir=${LIB64} \
+        --with-libctl=${DESTDIR}/share/libctl \
+        "$@"
+    set -x
+}
 
+showenv()
+{
+    echo export PATH=${DESTDIR}/bin:\${PATH}
+    echo export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${DESTDIR}/lib:\${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}
+    echo export PYTHONPATH=${DESTDIR}/lib/${python}/site-packages:\${PYTHONPATH}
+    if $centos; then
+        echo export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${DESTDIR}/lib64:\${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}
+        echo export PYTHONPATH=/usr/local/lib64/${python}/site-packages:\${PYTHONPATH}
+        echo export LD_PRELOAD+=:/usr/lib64/openmpi/lib/libmpi.so
+    fi
+}
+
+buildinstall=true
 installdeps=true
+bashrc=false
+BLAS=""
+unset DESTDIR
 
 while [ ! -z "$1" ]; do
     case "$1" in
         -h)         # help
             help "$0"
             ;;
-        -d)         # <installdir>  (default: current directory)
+        -d)         # <installdir>  (mandatory)
             DESTDIR="$2"
             shift
             ;;
         -s)         # use 'sudo' for 'make install'
             SUDO=sudo
             ;;
-        -n)         # do not check for distribution dependencies
+        -S)         # source directory (default: <installdir>/src)
+            SRCDIR="$2"
+            shift
+            ;;
+        -n)         # skip checking for distribution dependencies
             installdeps=false
             ;;
+        -c)         # skip build+install
+            buildinstall=false
+            ;;
+        -Du1604)    # build 'meep-ubuntu:16.04' docker image
+            docker=ubuntu:16.04;;
+        -Du1804)    # build 'meep-ubuntu:18.04' docker image
+            docker=ubuntu:18.04;;
+        -Dcentos7)  # build 'meep-centos:7' docker image
+            docker=centos:7;;
+        -Batlas)    # blas: use atlas
+            BLAS=atlas;;
+        -Bopenblas) # blas: use openblas
+            BLAS=openblas;;
+        -Bgslcblas)      # blas: use gsl+openblas (test)
+            BLAS=gslcblas;;
+        --bashrc)
+            bashrc=true;; # undocumented internal to store env in ~/.bashrc
         *)
             echo "'$1' ?"
             help "$0"
@@ -43,97 +113,118 @@ while [ ! -z "$1" ]; do
     shift
 done
 
+$buildinstall && [ -z "${DESTDIR}" ] && { echo "-d option is missing" ; help "$0"; }
+$buildinstall && [ -z "${BLAS}" ] && { echo "blas taste is missing" ; help "$0"; }
+
+if [ ! -z "${docker}" ]; then
+    ddir="docker-${docker}"
+    mkdir ${ddir}
+    cp "$0" ${ddir}/
+    cd ${ddir}
+    case ${docker} in
+        *ubuntu*)
+            echo "FROM ${docker}" > Dockerfile
+            echo "RUN apt-get update && apt-get -y install apt-utils sudo" >> Dockerfile
+            echo "ADD \"$0\" \"$0\"" >> Dockerfile
+            echo "RUN mkdir -p ${DESTDIR}; ./\"$0\" -d ${DESTDIR} --bashrc -B${BLAS}" >> Dockerfile
+            echo "CMD /bin/bash" >> Dockerfile
+            exec docker build -t "meep-${docker}-${BLAS}" .
+            ;;
 
-# detect wether DESTDIR is ending with src/
-[ -z ${DESTDIR} ] && DESTDIR=$(pwd)
-[ ${DESTDIR##*/} = src ] && DESTDIR=$(cd $(pwd)/..; pwd)
-SRCDIR=${DESTDIR}/src
+        *centos*)
+            echo "FROM ${docker}" > Dockerfile
+            echo "RUN yum -y install sudo" >> Dockerfile
+            echo "ADD \"$0\" \"$0\"" >> Dockerfile
+            echo "RUN mkdir -p ${DESTDIR}; ./\"$0\" -d ${DESTDIR} --bashrc -B${BLAS}" >> Dockerfile
+            echo "CMD /bin/bash" >> Dockerfile
+            exec docker build -t "meep-${docker}-${BLAS}" .
+            exit 1;;
 
-cat << EOF
+        *)
+            echo "can't build a docker file for '${docker}'"
+            help "$0"
+            exit 1;;
+    esac
+fi
 
-This sript will download or update sources, compile and install MEEP.
-Please ensure the following final paths fit your needs:
-    '${DESTDIR}/bin/meep'
-    '${DESTDIR}/lib/...'
-    '${DESTDIR}/share/...'
-    '${DESTDIR}/...'
-    '${SRCDIR}/<sources>'
+# detect wether DESTDIR is ending with src/
+[ "${DESTDIR##*/}" = src ] && DESTDIR=$(cd $(pwd)/..; pwd)
+[ -z "$SRCDIR" ] && SRCDIR=${DESTDIR}/src
 
-Press return to continue
-EOF
-read junk
-
-if ! lsb_release; then
-    echo "Minimum requirements:"
-    echo "    Ubuntu:"
-    echo "        sudo apt-get -y install lsb-release sudo git"
-    echo "    CentOS:"
-    echo "        sudo yum -y install redhat-lsb-core sudo git"
-    echo ""
-    exit 1
+if [ ! -r /etc/os-release ]; then
+    echo "Error: cannot read /etc/os-release"
+    false
 fi
 
-set -ex
+set -e
 
 ubuntu=false
 centos=false
 
-distrib=$(lsb_release -r -s)
+. /etc/os-release
+distrib="${ID}${VERSION_ID}"
 case "$distrib" in
-    18.04) # ubuntu 18.04 bionic
+    ubuntu18.04) # ubuntu 18.04 bionic
         libpng=libpng-dev
         libpython=libpython3-dev
+        python=python3.6
         ubuntu=true
         ;;
-    16.04) # ubuntu 16.04 xenial
+    ubuntu16.04) # ubuntu 16.04 xenial
         libpng=libpng16-dev
         libpython=libpython3.5-dev
+        python=python3.5
         ubuntu=true
         ;;
-    7.*) # CentOS 7.x
+    centos7) # CentOS 7.x
+        python=python3.6
         centos=true
         ;;
     *)
-        echo "unsupported distribution '$(lsb_release -a)', edit and fix!"
+        echo "Error: unsupported distribution '${distrib}'"
         false
         ;;
 esac
 
-mkdir -p ${SRCDIR}
-cd ${SRCDIR}
+# these are passed to configure on demand with: 'autogensh ... CC=${CC} CXX=${CXX}'
+export CC=mpicc
+export CXX=mpicxx
+export CFLAGS="-O3 -mtune=native"
 
-gitclone ()
-{
-    repo=${1##*/}
-    name=${repo%%.*}
-    echo $repo $name
-    if [ -d $name ]; then
-        ( cd $name; git pull; )
-    else
-        git clone --depth=1 $1
-    fi
-}
+if $ubuntu; then
+    RPATH_FLAGS="-Wl,-rpath,${DESTDIR}/lib:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/hdf5/openmpi"
+    LDFLAGS="-L${DESTDIR}/lib -L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/hdf5/openmpi ${RPATH_FLAGS}"
+    CFLAGS="${CFLAGS} -I${DESTDIR}/include -I/usr/include/hdf5/openmpi"
+fi
 
-autogensh ()
-{
-    sh autogen.sh PKG_CONFIG_PATH="${PKG_CONFIG_PATH}" RPATH_FLAGS="${RPATH_FLAGS}" LDFLAGS="${LDFLAGS}" CFLAGS="${CFLAGS}" CPPFLAGS="${CPPFLAGS}" \
-        --disable-static --enable-shared --prefix="${DESTDIR}" \
-        --with-libctl=${DESTDIR}/share/libctl \
-        "$@"
-}
+if $centos; then
+    # mpicc is not in PATH
+    export CC=/usr/lib64/openmpi/bin/mpicc
+    export CXX=/usr/lib64/openmpi/bin/mpicxx
+
+    RPATH_FLAGS="-Wl,-rpath,${DESTDIR}/lib64:/usr/lib64/openmpi/lib"
+    LDFLAGS="-L${DESTDIR}/lib64 -L/usr/lib64/openmpi/lib ${RPATH_FLAGS}"
+    CFLAGS="${CFLAGS} -I${DESTDIR}/include -I/usr/include/openmpi-x86_64/"
+fi
+
+eval $(showenv)
 
 if $installdeps && $ubuntu; then
 
     sudo apt-get update
 
+    case ${BLAS} in
+        atlas*) BLAS=atlas; bpkg=libatlas-base-dev;;
+        openblas) bpkg=libopenblas-dev;;
+        gslcblas) BLAS=openblas; bpkg="libgsl-dev libgslcblas0 libopenblas-dev";;
+    esac
+
     sudo apt-get -y install     \
+        git                     \
         build-essential         \
         gfortran                \
-        libblas-dev             \
-        liblapack-dev           \
         libgmp-dev              \
         swig                    \
-        libgsl-dev              \
         autoconf                \
         pkg-config              \
         $libpng                 \
@@ -147,16 +238,7 @@ if $installdeps && $ubuntu; then
         python3-scipy           \
         python3-pip             \
         ffmpeg                  \
-
-    [ "$distrib" = 16.04 ] && sudo -H pip3 install --upgrade pip
-    sudo -H pip3 install --no-cache-dir mpi4py
-    export HDF5_MPI="ON"
-    sudo -H pip3 install --no-binary=h5py h5py
-    sudo -H pip3 install matplotlib>3.0.0
-
-    RPATH_FLAGS="-Wl,-rpath,${DESTDIR}/lib:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/hdf5/openmpi"
-    LDFLAGS="-L${DESTDIR}/lib -L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/hdf5/openmpi ${RPATH_FLAGS}"
-    CFLAGS="-I${DESTDIR}/include -I/usr/include/hdf5/openmpi"
+        ${bpkg}                 \
 
 fi
 
@@ -164,37 +246,41 @@ if $installdeps && $centos; then
 
     sudo yum -y --enablerepo=extras install epel-release
 
-    sudo yum -y install   \
-        bison             \
-        byacc             \
-        cscope            \
-        ctags             \
-        cvs               \
-        diffstat          \
-        oxygen            \
-        flex              \
-        gcc               \
-        gcc-c++           \
-        gcc-gfortran      \
-        gettext           \
-        git               \
-        indent            \
-        intltool          \
-        libtool           \
-        patch             \
-        patchutils        \
-        rcs               \
-        redhat-rpm-config \
-        rpm-build         \
-        subversion        \
-        systemtap         \
-        wget
+    case ${BLAS} in
+        atlas) bpkg="atlas atlas-devel"; LDFLAGS="${LDFLAGS} -L/usr/lib64/${BLAS}"; BLAS=tatlas;;
+        gslcblas|openblas) bpkg=openblas-devel; BLAS=openblas;;
+    esac
 
     sudo yum -y install    \
-        openblas-devel     \
+        git                \
+        bison              \
+        byacc              \
+        cscope             \
+        ctags              \
+        cvs                \
+        diffstat           \
+        oxygen             \
+        flex               \
+        gcc                \
+        gcc-c++            \
+        gcc-gfortran       \
+        gettext            \
+        git                \
+        indent             \
+        intltool           \
+        libtool            \
+        patch              \
+        patchutils         \
+        redhat-rpm-config  \
+        rpm-build          \
+        systemtap          \
+        wget               \
+        python3            \
+        python3-devel      \
+        python36-numpy     \
+        python36-scipy     \
         fftw3-devel        \
         libpng-devel       \
-        gsl-devel          \
         gmp-devel          \
         pcre-devel         \
         libtool-ltdl-devel \
@@ -205,18 +291,13 @@ if $installdeps && $centos; then
         openssl-devel      \
         sqlite-devel       \
         bzip2-devel        \
-        ffmpeg
-
-    sudo yum -y install    \
+        ffmpeg             \
         openmpi-devel      \
         hdf5-openmpi-devel \
         guile-devel        \
-        swig
+        swig               \
+        ${bpkg}
 
-    export PATH=${PATH}:/usr/lib64/openmpi/bin
-    RPATH_FLAGS="-Wl,-rpath,${DESTDIR}/lib:/usr/lib64/openmpi/lib"
-    LDFLAGS="-L${DESTDIR}/lib -L/usr/lib64/openmpi/lib ${RPATH_FLAGS}"
-    CFLAGS="-I${DESTDIR}/include -I/usr/include/openmpi-x86_64/"
 fi
 
 CPPFLAGS=${CFLAGS}
@@ -224,42 +305,92 @@ PKG_CONFIG_PATH=${DESDTIR}/pkgconfig
 export PKG_CONFIG_PATH
 export PATH=${DESTDIR}/bin:${PATH}
 
-mkdir -p $SRCDIR
-
-cd $SRCDIR
-gitclone https://github.com/NanoComp/harminv.git
-cd harminv/
-autogensh
-make -j && $SUDO make install
-
-cd $SRCDIR
-gitclone https://github.com/NanoComp/libctl.git
-cd libctl/
-autogensh
-make -j && $SUDO make install
-
-cd $SRCDIR
-gitclone https://github.com/NanoComp/h5utils.git
-cd h5utils/
-autogensh CC=mpicc
-make -j && $SUDO make install
-
-cd $SRCDIR
-gitclone https://github.com/NanoComp/mpb.git
-cd mpb/
-autogensh CC=mpicc --with-hermitian-eps
-make -j && $SUDO make install
-
-cd $SRCDIR
-gitclone https://github.com/HomerReid/libGDSII.git
-cd libGDSII/
-autogensh
-make -j && $SUDO make install
-
-cd $SRCDIR
-gitclone https://github.com/NanoComp/meep.git
-cd meep/
-autogensh --with-mpi --with-openmp PYTHON=python3
-make -j && $SUDO make install
-
-# all done
+if $buildinstall; then
+
+    mkdir -p ${SRCDIR}
+
+    cd ${SRCDIR}
+    gitclone https://github.com/NanoComp/harminv.git
+    cd harminv/
+    autogensh --with-blas=${BLAS}
+    make -j && $SUDO make install
+
+    cd ${SRCDIR}
+    gitclone https://github.com/NanoComp/libctl.git
+    cd libctl/
+    autogensh --with-blas=${BLAS}
+    make -j && $SUDO make install
+
+    cd ${SRCDIR}
+    gitclone https://github.com/NanoComp/h5utils.git
+    cd h5utils/
+    autogensh CC=${CC}
+    make -j && $SUDO make install
+
+    cd ${SRCDIR}
+    gitclone https://github.com/NanoComp/mpb.git
+    cd mpb/
+    autogensh CC=${CC} --with-hermitian-eps --with-blas=${BLAS}
+    make -j && $SUDO make install
+
+    cd ${SRCDIR}
+    gitclone https://github.com/HomerReid/libGDSII.git
+    cd libGDSII/
+    autogensh
+    make -j && $SUDO make install
+
+if $ubuntu; then
+    sudo -E -H python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
+    sudo -E -H python3 -m pip install --no-cache-dir mpi4py
+    export HDF5_MPI="ON" # for python h5py
+    sudo -E -H python3 -m pip install cython
+    sudo -E -H python3 -m pip install --no-cache-dir --no-binary=h5py h5py
+    sudo -E -H python3 -m pip install --no-cache-dir matplotlib>3.0.0
+else
+    sudo -E -H python3 -m pip install --no-cache-dir mpi4py
+    #sudo -E -H python3 -m pip install --no-binary=h5py h5py
+    sudo -E -H python3 -m pip install h5py
+    sudo -E -H python3 -m pip install matplotlib>3.0.0
+fi
+
+    cd ${SRCDIR}
+    gitclone https://github.com/NanoComp/meep.git
+    cd meep/
+    autogensh --with-mpi --with-openmp --with-blas=${BLAS}
+    make -j && $SUDO make install
+
+    # all done
+
+    if $centos; then
+         cd ${DESTDIR}/lib/${python}/site-packages/meep/
+         for i in ../../../../lib64/${python}/site-packages/meep/*meep*; do
+            ln -sf $i
+         done
+    fi
+
+fi # buildinstall
+
+########
+# test
+
+test=/tmp/test-meep.py
+
+cat << EOF > $test
+import meep as mp
+cell = mp.Vector3(16,8,0)
+print(cell)
+exit()
+EOF
+
+echo "------------ ENV (commands)"
+showenv > ${DESTDIR}/meep-env.sh
+$bashrc && { showenv >> ~/.bashrc; }
+echo "------------ ENV (result)"
+echo export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}
+echo export PYTHONPATH=${PYTHONPATH}
+echo export LD_PRELOAD=${LD_PRELOAD}
+echo "------------ $test"
+cat $test
+echo "------------ EXEC python3 $test"
+. ${DESTDIR}/meep-env.sh
+python3 $test