diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 28f014472f..93eed96012 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ pkg/
 spec/dummy/db/*.sqlite3
 spec/dummy/log/*.log
 spec/dummy/tmp/
+.internal_test_app/**/*
 
 spec/mock_upload_directory
 
@@ -97,5 +98,3 @@ public/system/
 
 ## Sitemap
 public/sitemap.xml
-
-./spec/internal
diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index a5fafe41ef..0ab4bbf8fb 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -16,17 +16,26 @@ group :development, :test do
   gem 'rubocop-rspec', require: false
 end
 
-file = File.expand_path("Gemfile", ENV['ENGINE_CART_DESTINATION'] || ENV['RAILS_ROOT'] || File.expand_path("../spec/internal", __FILE__))
+# BEGIN ENGINE_CART BLOCK
+# engine_cart: 0.8.0
+# engine_cart stanza: 0.8.0
+# the below comes from engine_cart, a gem used to test this Rails engine gem in the context of a Rails app.
+file = File.expand_path("Gemfile", ENV['ENGINE_CART_DESTINATION'] || ENV['RAILS_ROOT'] || File.expand_path(".internal_test_app", File.dirname(__FILE__)))
 if File.exists?(file)
-  puts "Loading #{file} ..." if $DEBUG # `ruby -d` or `bundle -v`
-  instance_eval File.read(file)
+  begin
+    eval_gemfile file
+  rescue Bundler::GemfileError => e
+    Bundler.ui.warn '[EngineCart] Skipping Rails application dependencies:'
+    Bundler.ui.warn e.message
+  end
 else
+  Bundler.ui.warn "[EngineCart] Unable to find test application dependencies in #{file}, using placeholder dependencies"
   gem 'rails', ENV['RAILS_VERSION'] if ENV['RAILS_VERSION']
-
-  if ENV['RAILS_VERSION'] and ENV['RAILS_VERSION'] !~ /^4.2/
-    gem 'sass-rails', "< 5.0"
-  else
+  if ENV['RAILS_VERSION'].nil? || ENV['RAILS_VERSION'] =~ /^4.2/
     gem 'responders', "~> 2.0"
     gem 'sass-rails', ">= 5.0"
+  else
+    gem 'sass-rails', "< 5.0"
   end
 end
+# END ENGINE_CART BLOCK