diff --git a/bundle/src/assembly/resources/fed/ns3/ns3_installer.sh b/bundle/src/assembly/resources/fed/ns3/ns3_installer.sh
index 7a1e69bbf..3a8906ec3 100644
--- a/bundle/src/assembly/resources/fed/ns3/ns3_installer.sh
+++ b/bundle/src/assembly/resources/fed/ns3/ns3_installer.sh
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ arg_ns3_file=""
 arg_federate_file=""
 arg_integration_testing=false
 arg_make_parallel=""
+arg_dev=false
 
 required_programs_display=( python3 gcc unzip tar protobuf-compiler )
 required_programs_test=( python3 gcc unzip tar protoc )
@@ -88,10 +89,11 @@ print_help() {
     log "   -q --quiet\t\t\t\tThe script will not give any output but run silently instead."
     log "   -c --no-clean-on-failure\t\tDo not remove installation files when install fails."
     log "   -d --no-deploy\t\t\tDo not extract binary data from ns3 (useful for development)."
+    log "   -k --keep-src\t\t\tSource code is not removed after installation."
     log "   -p --regen-protobuf\ŧ\tRegenerate Protobuf c++ source, when using a different version of protobuf 3."
     log "   -h --help\t\t\t\tPrint this help"
     log "   -j --parallel <n>\t\t\tUse n threads for compilation "
-    log "   -u --uninstall			Remove the ns-3 federate"
+    log "   -u --uninstall       Remove the ns-3 federate"
     log "\n"
 }
 
@@ -118,7 +120,7 @@ get_arguments() {
           -f|--federate)
               arg_federate_file="$2"
               ns3_federate_filename="$2"
-              shift #past argument
+              shift # past argument
               ;;
           -s|--simulator)
               arg_ns3_file="$2"
@@ -129,6 +131,9 @@ get_arguments() {
               arg_integration_testing=true
               arg_quiet=true
               ;;
+          -k|--keep-src)
+              arg_dev=true
+              ;;
           -j|--parallel)
               arg_make_parallel="-j $2"
               shift # past argument
@@ -226,9 +231,9 @@ check_directory() {
 }
 
 check_nslog() {
-	if [[ ! $NS_LOG =~ .*level.* ]]; then
-		log "Logging probably not correctly initialized"
-	fi
+   if [[ ! $NS_LOG =~ .*level.* ]]; then
+      log "Logging probably not correctly initialized"
+   fi
 }
 
 ask_dependencies()
@@ -355,24 +360,28 @@ extract_premake() {
   cd "$oldpwd"
 }
 
-patch_ns3()
+copy_runfile()
 {
-   ### copy the run file
    cp -f "./federate/run.sh" "$ns3_installation_path/run.sh"
    chmod +x "$ns3_installation_path/run.sh"
+
+   if [ "$arg_dev" == "true" ]; then
+      sed -i -e 's|LD_LIBRARY_PATH=../ns-allinone-$ns3Version/ns-$ns3Version/build|LD_LIBRARY_PATH=../ns-allinone-$ns3Version/ns-$ns3Version/build/lib|' "$ns3_installation_path/run.sh"
+   fi
 }
 
 build_ns3()
 {
-  current_dir=`pwd`
-  log "BUILD ns3 version ${ns3_version}"
+  log "Build ns3 version ${ns3_version}"
   cd "${ns3_installation_path}/ns-allinone-${ns3_version}"
-
   # ns-3 prior to 3.28.1 does not compile without warnings using g++ 10.2.0
   CXXFLAGS="-Wno-error" python3 ./build.py --disable-netanim
+}
 
+build_ns3_federate()
+{
   log "Build ns3-federate"
-  cd ${current_dir}/federate
+  cd ${ns3_installation_path}/federate
   mv src/ClientServerChannel.h .
   mv src/ClientServerChannel.cc .
 
@@ -400,22 +409,27 @@ deploy_ns3()
 {
     if [ "$arg_deploy" == "true" ]; then
         log "Deploying ns3 binaries"
-        cd "${ns3_installation_path}"
-
-        mkdir -p "$ns3_deploy_folder/build/scratch/"
+        if [ "$arg_dev" == "true" ]; then
+            # will copy 1.8GB instead of 470MB at beginning of each simulation run
+            cd "${ns3_installation_path}"
+            cp federate/bin/ns3-federate "$ns3_simulator_folder/build/scratch/mosaic_starter"
+        else
+            cd "${ns3_installation_path}"
 
+            mkdir -p "$ns3_deploy_folder/build/scratch/"
 
-        for i in $(find "${ns3_simulator_folder}/build/" -name "*.so"); do
-            cp "$i" "$ns3_deploy_folder/build/"
-        done
 
-        cp federate/bin/ns3-federate "$ns3_deploy_folder/build/scratch/mosaic_starter"
+            for i in $(find "${ns3_simulator_folder}/build/" -name "*.so"); do
+                cp "$i" "$ns3_deploy_folder/build/"
+            done
 
-        mkdir "${ns3_deploy_folder}/scratch"
+            cp federate/bin/ns3-federate "$ns3_deploy_folder/build/scratch/mosaic_starter"
 
-        rm -rf ${ns3_simulator_folder}
-        mv "${ns3_deploy_folder}" "${ns3_simulator_folder}"
+            mkdir "${ns3_deploy_folder}/scratch"
 
+            rm -rf ${ns3_simulator_folder}
+            mv "${ns3_deploy_folder}" "${ns3_simulator_folder}"
+        fi
     fi
 }
 
@@ -446,7 +460,7 @@ clean_up()
    if [ "$arg_integration_testing" = false ]; then
       while  [ true ]; do
          log "Do you want to remove the following files and folders? ${bold}${red} $temporary_files ${restore} \n[y/n] "
-		 if $arg_quiet; then
+       if $arg_quiet; then
             answer=Y
          else
             read answer
@@ -464,7 +478,7 @@ clean_up()
 
 # Workaround for integration testing
 set_nslog() {
-	export NS_LOG="'*=level_all|prefix'"
+   export NS_LOG="'*=level_all|prefix'"
 }
 
 ##################                   #################
@@ -498,12 +512,13 @@ extract_ns3_federate
 
 extract_premake
 
-log "Applying patch for ns-3..."
-patch_ns3
+copy_runfile
 
 log "Building ns-3..."
 build_ns3
+build_ns3_federate
 
+log "Deploying ns-3..."
 deploy_ns3
 
 log "Set ns-3 debug-levels..."