diff --git a/conftest.py b/conftest.py
index e69de29bb..0b7a75eae 100644
--- a/conftest.py
+++ b/conftest.py
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# empty file to trick py.test into adding the root folder to sys.path
+# see https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest/issues/911 for more info