diff --git a/letsencrypt-auto b/letsencrypt-auto
index b9f95ac14..667dcecfd 100755
--- a/letsencrypt-auto
+++ b/letsencrypt-auto
@@ -8,11 +8,25 @@
 # without requiring specific versions of its dependencies from the operating
 # system.
 
+# Note: you can set XDG_DATA_HOME or VENV_PATH before running this script,
+# if you want to change where the virtual environment will be installed
 XDG_DATA_HOME=${XDG_DATA_HOME:-~/.local/share}
 VENV_NAME="letsencrypt"
 VENV_PATH=${VENV_PATH:-"$XDG_DATA_HOME/$VENV_NAME"}
 VENV_BIN=${VENV_PATH}/bin
 
+# This script takes the same arguments as the main letsencrypt program, but it
+# additionally responds to --verbose (more output) and --debug (allow support
+# for experimental platforms)
+for arg in "$@" ; do
+  # This first clause is redundant with the third, but hedging on portability
+  if [ "$arg" = "-v" ] || [ "$arg" = "--verbose" ] || echo "$arg" | grep -E -- "-v+$" ; then
+    VERBOSE=1
+  elif [ "$arg" = "--debug" ] ; then
+    DEBUG=1
+  fi
+done
+
 if test "`id -u`" -ne "0" ; then
   if command -v sudo 1>/dev/null 2>&1; then
     SUDO=sudo
@@ -44,15 +58,6 @@ else
   SUDO=
 fi
 
-for arg in "$@" ; do
-  # This first clause is redundant with the third, but hedging on portability
-  if [ "$arg" = "-v" ] || [ "$arg" = "--verbose" ] || echo "$arg" | grep -E -- "-v+$" ; then
-    VERBOSE=1
-  elif [ "$arg" = "--debug" ] ; then
-    DEBUG=1
-  fi
-done
-
 ExperimentalBootstrap() {
   # Arguments: Platform name, boostrap script name, SUDO command (iff needed)
   if [ "$DEBUG" = 1 ] ; then