diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 32b078d402..f99ad8e9ad 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -67,7 +67,9 @@ pre-requirements: ## install Python requirements for running pip-tools
 	pip install -qr requirements/edx/pip-tools.txt
 
 requirements: pre-requirements ## install development environment requirements
-	pip-sync -q requirements/edx/development.txt requirements/edx/private.*
+	# The "$(wildcard..)" is to include private.txt if it exists, and make no mention
+	# of it if it does not.  Shell wildcarding can't do that with default options.
+	pip-sync -q requirements/edx/development.txt $(wildcard requirements/edx/private.txt)
 
 shell: ## launch a bash shell in a Docker container with all edx-platform dependencies installed
 	docker run -it -e "NO_PYTHON_UNINSTALL=1" -e "PIP_INDEX_URL=https://pypi.python.org/simple" -e TERM \
@@ -130,4 +132,3 @@ docker_push: docker_tag docker_auth ## push to docker hub
 	docker push "openedx/edx-platform:${GITHUB_SHA}-newrelic"
 	docker push 'openedx/edx-platform:latest-devstack'
 	docker push "openedx/edx-platform:${GITHUB_SHA}-devstack"
-
diff --git a/pavelib/prereqs.py b/pavelib/prereqs.py
index c77ca14f24..a0ac6017e4 100644
--- a/pavelib/prereqs.py
+++ b/pavelib/prereqs.py
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ else:
 
 # Developers can have private requirements, for local copies of github repos,
 # or favorite debugging tools, etc.
-PRIVATE_REQS = 'requirements/private.txt'
+PRIVATE_REQS = 'requirements/edx/private.txt'
 if os.path.exists(PRIVATE_REQS):
     PYTHON_REQ_FILES.append(PRIVATE_REQS)