diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6b06181..751cdf6 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -31,7 +31,18 @@ This will download the sources of everything into
 `<directory name>/win32-dev` and extract the current Pidgin release into
 `<directory name>/pidgin-<version>`.
 
-When it has completed you can then "activate" the build directory by running
+When it has completed you can then "activate" the dev environment by sourcing
+the activation script in the win32-dev directory.
+
+```sh
+source <directory name>/win32-dev/activate
+```
+
+You can also deactivate it by typing `deactivate`.
+
+Previously, activation was done by running the following command. This still
+works, but has been deprecated in favor of the `activate` script and will be
+removed in a future version.
 
 ```sh
 eval $(./pidgin-windev.sh <directory name> --path)
diff --git a/pidgin-windev.sh b/pidgin-windev.sh
index 2862724..743896f 100755
--- a/pidgin-windev.sh
+++ b/pidgin-windev.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ pidgin_version="2.14.13"
 devroot="$1"
 path="$2"
 
+SCRIPT_RELATIVE_PATH=$(dirname "${0}")
+SCRIPT_ABSOLUTE_PATH=$(realpath "${SCRIPT_RELATIVE_PATH}")
+
 if [[ "$1" = -* || -z "$devroot" || ( -n "$path" && "$path" != --path ) ]]; then echo "
     Pidgin Windows Development Setup ${version}
     Target Pidgin version ${pidgin_version}
@@ -135,6 +138,9 @@ install() {
 
 # Path configuration
 if [[ -n "$path" ]]; then
+    echo "--path is deprecated. Source the 'activate' script that is in the win32-dev"
+    echo "directory instead"
+
     printf "%s" "export PATH='"
     printf "%s" "${win32}/${mingw}/bin:"
     printf "%s" "${win32}/${perl_dir}/perl/bin:"
@@ -282,6 +288,9 @@ extract zip    "${win32}/gtk_2_0-2.14"    "${cache}/gtk+-bundle_2.14.7-20090119_
 extract zip    "${win32}/${intltool}"     "${cache}/${intltool}.zip"
 extract gzip   "${win32}/${gcc_core44}"   "${cache}/${gcc_core44}.tar.gz"
 info "Installing" "SHA1 plugin for NSIS"; cp "${win32}/${pidgin_inst_deps}/SHA1Plugin.dll" "${win32}/${nsis}/Plugins"
+info "Installing" "activation script"
+# shellcheck disable=SC2016
+MINGW=${mingw} NSIS=${nsis} PERL=${perl} envsubst '$MINGW $NSIS $PERL' < "${SCRIPT_ABSOLUTE_PATH}/templates/activate.in" > "${win32}/activate"
 echo
 
 # Finishing
diff --git a/templates/activate.in b/templates/activate.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..78098cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/activate.in
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+# shellcheck shell=bash
+# This script is heavily based off of `bin/activate` from python virtualenv.
+# It must be sourced by bash with `source <devenv>/activate`
+
+if [ "${BASH_SOURCE-}" = "$0" ]; then
+    echo "You must source this script: \$ source $0" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+RELATIVE_WINDEV=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE-}")
+WINDEV=$(realpath "${RELATIVE_WINDEV}")
+
+deactivate() {
+    if [ -n "${_OLD_PIDGIN_WINDEV_PATH:+_}" ] ; then
+        PATH="${_OLD_PIDGIN_WINDEV_PATH}"
+        export PATH
+        unset _OLD_PIDGIN_WINDEV_PATH
+    fi
+
+    # This should detect bash and zsh, which have a hash command that must
+    # be called to get it to forget past commands.  Without forgetting
+    # past commands the $PATH changes we made may not be respected
+    if [ -n "${BASH-}" ] || [ -n "${ZSH_VERSION-}" ] ; then
+        hash -r 2>/dev/null
+    fi
+
+    unset WIN32_DEV_TOP
+    unset PIDGIN_WINDEV
+    if [ ! "${1-}" = "nondestructive" ] ; then
+    # Self destruct!
+        unset -f deactivate
+    fi
+}
+
+deactivate nondestructive
+
+printf "activating pidgin windev '%s'\n" "${WINDEV}"
+
+# Save the path for the virtual environment
+PIDGIN_WINDEV="${WINDEV}"
+export PIDGIN_WINDEV
+
+# Store the old path so it can be restored on deactivation
+_OLD_PIDGIN_WINDEV_PATH="${PATH}"
+PATH="${PIDGIN_WINDEV}/${MINGW}/bin:${PIDGIN_WINDEV}/${PERL}/perl/bin:${PIDGIN_WINDEV}/${NSIS}/:${PATH}"
+export PATH
+
+# Update WIN32_DEV_TOP so that the Pidgin build with automatically find this
+WIN32_DEV_TOP="${WINDEV}"
+export WIN32_DEV_TOP
+
+# This should detect bash and zsh, which have a hash command that must
+# be called to get it to forget past commands.  Without forgetting
+# past commands the $PATH changes we made may not be respected
+if [ -n "${BASH-}" ] || [ -n "${ZSH_VERSION-}" ] ; then
+    hash -r 2>/dev/null
+fi