diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index e3281ae..0f3f3a0 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 config.read('settings.ini', encoding='utf-8')
 cfg = config['DEFAULT']
 
+# NOTE: package_data is missing from here
 cfg_keys = 'version description keywords author author_email'.split()
 expected = cfg_keys + "lib_name user branch license status min_python audience language".split()
 for o in expected: assert o in cfg, "missing expected setting: {}".format(o)
@@ -30,6 +31,14 @@
 lic = licenses.get(cfg['license'].lower(), (cfg['license'], None))
 dev_requirements = (cfg.get('dev_requirements') or '').split()
 
+# NOTE: handle package_data here e.g. in settings.ini `package_data = ../data/defaults.yml`
+package_data = dict()
+pkg_data = cfg.get('package_data', None)
+if pkg_data:
+    package_data[cfg['lib_name']] =  pkg_data.split() # split as multiple files might be listed
+# Add package data to setup_cfg for setuptools.setup(..., **setup_cfg)
+setup_cfg['package_data'] = package_data
+
 setuptools.setup(
     name = cfg['lib_name'],
     license = lic[0],
@@ -40,7 +49,7 @@
     ] + ['Programming Language :: Python :: '+o for o in py_versions[py_versions.index(min_python):]] + (['License :: ' + lic[1] ] if lic[1] else []),
     url = cfg['git_url'],
     packages = setuptools.find_packages(),
-    include_package_data = True,
+    include_package_data = True,             # NOTE: unclear if this automatically determines package data and if so how
     install_requires = requirements,
     extras_require={ 'dev': dev_requirements },
     dependency_links = cfg.get('dep_links','').split(),