diff --git a/karaf/assembly/src/main/distribution/text/etc/shell.init.script b/karaf/assembly/src/main/distribution/text/etc/shell.init.script
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b58d16d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/karaf/assembly/src/main/distribution/text/etc/shell.init.script
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+//
+// Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+// or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+// distributed with this work for additional information
+// regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+// to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+// "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+// with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+// software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+// "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+// KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+// specific language governing permissions and limitations
+// under the License.
+//
+// This script is run each time a shell is created.
+// You can define here closures or variables that will be available
+// in each session.
+//
+ld = { log:display $args } ;
+lde = { log:display-exception $args } ;
diff --git a/karaf/assembly/src/main/distribution/text/etc/system.properties b/karaf/assembly/src/main/distribution/text/etc/system.properties
index 330c978..40aa8bc 100644
--- a/karaf/assembly/src/main/distribution/text/etc/system.properties
+++ b/karaf/assembly/src/main/distribution/text/etc/system.properties
@@ -20,4 +20,5 @@
 org.ops4j.pax.logging.DefaultServiceLog.level=ERROR
 karaf.name=root
 karaf.default.repository=system
+karaf.shell.init.script=${karaf.home}/etc/shell.init.script
 xml.catalog.files=