diff --git a/runserver.sh b/runserver.sh
index d38fe080054..6b885061905 100755
--- a/runserver.sh
+++ b/runserver.sh
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
 # Set script to exit on any errors.
 set -e
 
+DJANGO_HTTP_PORT=${DJANGO_HTTP_PORT:-8000}
+
 if [ "$1" == "ssl" ]; then
   echo -e '\033[0;32mStarting SSL Django server on port' $DJANGO_HTTP_PORT '...'
   tput sgr0