diff --git a/bin/idea.sh b/bin/idea.sh
index 49c6ee45e3b..e8ee2dde9c6 100644
--- a/bin/idea.sh
+++ b/bin/idea.sh
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
 # Shell script for generating an IDEA project from a given list of modules
 
 usage() {
-      echo "usage: $0 [-h|--help] [-v|--verbose] [-o|--output <path>] [modules]+"
+      echo "usage: $0 [-h|--help] [-v|--verbose] [-o|--output <path>] [-c|--conf <conf_name>] [modules]+"
       exit 1
 }
 
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ cd $TOP;
 
 IDEA_OUTPUT=$TOP/.idea
 VERBOSE="false"
+CONF_ARG=
 while [ $# -gt 0 ]
 do
   case $1 in
@@ -52,6 +53,10 @@ do
       IDEA_OUTPUT=$2/.idea
       shift
       ;;
+    -c | --conf )
+      CONF_ARG="CONF_NAME=$2"
+      shift
+      ;;
 
     -*)  # bad option
       usage
@@ -91,7 +96,7 @@ if [ "$VERBOSE" = "true" ] ; then
   echo "idea template dir: $IDEA_TEMPLATE"
 fi
 
-cd $TOP ; make -f "$IDEA_MAKE/idea.gmk" -I $MAKE_DIR/.. idea MAKEOVERRIDES= OUT=$IDEA_OUTPUT/env.cfg MODULES="$*" || exit 1
+cd $TOP ; make -f "$IDEA_MAKE/idea.gmk" -I $MAKE_DIR/.. idea MAKEOVERRIDES= OUT=$IDEA_OUTPUT/env.cfg MODULES="$*" $CONF_ARG || exit 1
 cd $SCRIPT_DIR
 
 . $IDEA_OUTPUT/env.cfg