diff --git a/bin/is b/bin/is
index f71968af6eaa18a73fc29747d756c2f696836f91..1cf1e3553d5f8ca840eecdf91f34b1d71ed5e5b7 100755
--- a/bin/is
+++ b/bin/is
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import fnmatch
 import warnings
 import argparse
 import json
+import psutil
 import installsystems
 import installsystems.printer
 import installsystems.tools as istools
@@ -479,6 +480,10 @@ def arg_parser_init():
                         help="doesn't sync repository database cache")
     parser.add_argument("--no-color", action="store_true",
                         help="dot not display colored output")
+    parser.add_argument("--nice", type=int, default=0,
+                        help="nice of the process")
+    parser.add_argument("--ionice", choices=["none","rt", "be","idle"],
+                        help="ionice class of the process (default: none)")
     # create a subparser for commands
     subparser = parser.add_subparsers()
     # add command parser
@@ -701,6 +706,23 @@ def main():
         # no warning if we are not in debug mode
         if installsystems.verbosity < 2:
             warnings.filterwarnings("ignore")
+        # nice and ionice process
+        if options.nice is not None or options.ionice is not None:
+            proc = psutil.Process(os.getpid())
+            if options.nice is not None:
+                try: proc.nice = options.nice
+                except Exception:
+                    warn("Unable to nice process to %s" % options.nice)
+            if options.ionice is not None:
+                try:
+                    ioclassmap = {
+                        "none": psutil.IOPRIO_CLASS_NONE,
+                        "rt": psutil.IOPRIO_CLASS_RT,
+                        "be": psutil.IOPRIO_CLASS_BE,
+                        "idle": psutil.IOPRIO_CLASS_IDLE}
+                    proc.set_ionice(ioclassmap[options.ionice])
+                except Exception:
+                    warn("Unable to ionice process to %s" % options.ionice)
         # except for install command we parse all args!
         # install command is responsible of parsing
         if options.func is not c_install:
diff --git a/completion/bash/is b/completion/bash/is
index 6b3d27ded3650583c2f9086f968a2ce98d01065d..77143a55edaa8a37f3a506cf5e35b6df6865688c 100644
--- a/completion/bash/is
+++ b/completion/bash/is
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@ _is() {
    '-c'  '--config'
    '-C'  '--cache'
    '-t'  '--timeout'
+   '--nice'
+   '--ionice'
    '--no-cache'
    '--no-color'
    '--no-sync')
@@ -131,7 +133,6 @@ _is() {
          _local_repo
       ;;
       install)
-         #[[ "$cur" == -* ]] && _opt '-b --best' && return 0
          _count_args
          (( args == 2 )) && _image
          (( args > 2 )) && _filedir
diff --git a/debian/control b/debian/control
index 26cb37b659ddadbb5c53dbe8c3bbb209f0c39b50..abd718b5f8eee8fdefe8e3f406c22d7b8e81a0a8 100644
--- a/debian/control
+++ b/debian/control
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ Standards-Version: 3.9.1
 
 Package: installsystems
 Architecture: all
-Depends: ${misc:Depends}, ${python:Depends}, python-installsystems (>= ${source:Version})
+Depends: ${misc:Depends}, ${python:Depends}, python-installsystems (>= ${source:Version}), python-psutil (>= 0.2.1)
 XB-Python-Version: ${python:Versions}
 Description: InstallSytems Installer
  InstallSystems command line tool
diff --git a/installsystems/config.py b/installsystems/config.py
index 268f5b21e21ecb9043e9f06d7d6f9817ae2236d7..971576b287bff595503c3fdb4bda85138d6ec308 100644
--- a/installsystems/config.py
+++ b/installsystems/config.py
@@ -61,6 +61,8 @@ class MainConfigFile(ConfigFile):
         "repo_search": str,
         "repo_filter": str,
         "repo_config": str,
+        "nice": int,
+        "ionice": ["none", "rt", "be", "idle"]
         }
     def __init__(self, filename, prefix=os.path.basename(sys.argv[0])):
         self.prefix = prefix
diff --git a/samples/installsystems.conf b/samples/installsystems.conf
index cfc1bc32d25a8959cfed9621c2d26a01c9b6f04a..8e8cd902b99a1e9bb64005b48415aadc00273aac 100644
--- a/samples/installsystems.conf
+++ b/samples/installsystems.conf
@@ -5,6 +5,12 @@
 # Set verbosity (0: quiet, 1: normal, 2: debug)
 #verbosity = 2
 
+# Set nice process value
+#nice = 0
+
+# Set ionice class
+#ionice = idle
+
 # define a custom cache directory
 #cache = /tmp/sex