diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/dealii/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/dealii/package.py
index b251d50ca1d..6810e868685 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/dealii/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/dealii/package.py
@@ -251,3 +251,6 @@ def install(self, spec, prefix):
                 cmake('.')
                 make('release')
                 make('run',parallel=False)
+
+    def setup_environment(self, spack_env, env):
+        env.set('DEAL_II_DIR', self.prefix)