diff -r 9ee2db08d677 -r 78e1bd2fb0dc autobuild/autobuild_base.py
--- a/autobuild/autobuild_base.py	Thu Feb 03 14:01:59 2011 -0800
+++ b/autobuild/autobuild_base.py	Sun Feb 06 22:47:01 2011 -0500
@@ -46,6 +46,13 @@
             basename = basename[len(pfx):]
         return basename
 
+    def configurations_from_environment(self):
+        cfgs=os.environ.get("AUTOBUILD_CONFIGURATION")
+        if cfgs is None:
+            return []
+        else:
+            return cfgs.split(",")
+
 # Override these three functions to hook into autobuild.py
 
     def get_details(self):
diff -r 9ee2db08d677 -r 78e1bd2fb0dc autobuild/autobuild_tool_build.py
--- a/autobuild/autobuild_tool_build.py	Thu Feb 03 14:01:59 2011 -0800
+++ b/autobuild/autobuild_tool_build.py	Sun Feb 06 22:47:01 2011 -0500
@@ -71,7 +71,9 @@
         parser.add_argument('--all','-a',dest='all', default=False, action="store_true",
             help="build all configurations")
         parser.add_argument('--configuration', '-c', nargs='?', action="append", dest='configurations', 
-            help="build a specific build configuration", metavar='CONFIGURATION')
+                            help="build a specific build configuration\n(may be specified as comma separated values in $AUTOBUILD_CONFIGURATION)",
+                            metavar='CONFIGURATION',
+                            default=self.configurations_from_environment())
         parser.add_argument('--use-cwd', dest='use_cwd', default=False, action="store_true",
             help="build in current working directory")
         parser.usage = """%(prog)s [-h] [--no-configure] [--config-file CONFIG_FILE] [-a]
diff -r 9ee2db08d677 -r 78e1bd2fb0dc autobuild/autobuild_tool_configure.py
--- a/autobuild/autobuild_tool_configure.py	Thu Feb 03 14:01:59 2011 -0800
+++ b/autobuild/autobuild_tool_configure.py	Sun Feb 06 22:47:01 2011 -0500
@@ -53,7 +53,9 @@
             default=configfile.AUTOBUILD_CONFIG_FILE,
             help="")
         parser.add_argument('--configuration', '-c', nargs='?', action="append", dest='configurations', 
-            help="build a specific build configuration", metavar='CONFIGURATION')
+                            help="build a specific build configuration\n(may be specified as comma separated values in $AUTOBUILD_CONFIGURATION)",
+                            metavar='CONFIGURATION',
+                            default=self.configurations_from_environment())
         parser.add_argument('--all','-a',dest='all', default=False, action="store_true",
             help="build all configurations")
         parser.add_argument('additional_options', nargs="*", metavar='OPT',