diff --git a/.dir-locals.el b/.dir-locals.el
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..08257cd5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dir-locals.el
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+;; emacs local configuration settings for knot source
+;; surmised by dkg on 2017-03-25 12:15:55-0500
+
+((c-mode
+  (indent-tabs-mode . t)
+  (tab-width . 8)
+  (c-basic-offset . 8)
+  (c-file-style . "linux"))
+ )