diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
index d998814e..f8c593ca 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -10,9 +10,11 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+
       - name: run chatmaild tests 
         working-directory: chatmaild
         run: pipx run tox
+
       - name: run deploy-chatmail offline tests 
         working-directory: deploy-chatmail
         run: pipx run tox
@@ -21,19 +23,13 @@ jobs:
         run: pipx run tox
 
   scripts:
-    name: chatmail script invocations 
+    name: cmdeploy invocations 
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v3
 
-      - name: create venv 
-        run: python3 -m venv 
+      - name: initenv 
+        run: scripts/initenv.sh
 
-      - name: install packages into venv 
-        run: venv/bin/pip install chatmaild deploy_chatmail 
-
-      - name: initialize
+      - name: initialize with chatmail domain
         run: venv/bin/cmdeploy init chat.example.org  
-
-      - name: initialize a testrun domain
-        run: venv/bin/cmdeploy init c4.testrun.org
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8d0f5d51..d0b60c6f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -25,14 +25,12 @@ DNS domain name (FQDN), for example `chat.example.org`.
         ssh root@CHATMAIL_DOMAIN 
    ```
 
-2. Install the `cmdeploy` binary in a Python virtual environment: 
+2. Install the `cmdeploy` command in a virtualenv 
 
    ```
-    python3 -m venv venv 
-    source venv/bin/activate 
-    pip install -e deploy-chatmail -e chatmaild 
+    source scripts/initenv.sh
    ```
-
+  
 3. Create chatmail configuration file `chatmail.ini`:
 
    ```
diff --git a/chatmaild/MANIFEST.in b/chatmaild/MANIFEST.in
index e702a3d7..a11a04f9 100644
--- a/chatmaild/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/chatmaild/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
+include src/chatmaild/*.f 
+include src/chatmaild/ini/*.ini.f
 include src/chatmaild/ini/*.ini
diff --git a/scripts/initenv.sh b/scripts/initenv.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..9ee41050
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/initenv.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -e
+python3 -m venv venv
+
+venv/bin/pip install -e deploy-chatmail 
+venv/bin/pip install -e chatmaild 
+
+source venv/bin/activate
+echo activated 'venv' python virtualenv environment containing "cmdeploy" tool