diff --git a/bindep.txt b/bindep.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..524b30732ec3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bindep.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+# This is a cross-platform list tracking distribution packages needed for install and tests;
+# see http://docs.openstack.org/infra/bindep/ for additional information.
+
+build-essential [platform:dpkg test]
+gcc [platform:rpm test]
+gettext [test]
+graphviz [test]
+language-pack-en [platform:ubuntu]
+libffi-dev [platform:dpkg test]
+libffi-devel [platform:rpm test]
+libmysqlclient-dev [platform:dpkg]
+libpq-dev [platform:dpkg test]
+libsqlite3-dev [platform:dpkg test]
+libxml2-dev [platform:dpkg test]
+libxslt-devel [platform:rpm test]
+libxslt1-dev [platform:dpkg test]
+locales [platform:debian]
+mysql [platform:rpm]
+mysql-client [platform:dpkg]
+mysql-devel [platform:rpm test]
+mysql-server
+pkg-config [platform:dpkg test]
+pkgconfig [platform:rpm test]
+postgresql
+postgresql-client [platform:dpkg]
+postgresql-devel [platform:rpm test]
+postgresql-server [platform:rpm]
+python-dev [platform:dpkg test]
+python-devel [platform:rpm test]
+python3-all [platform:dpkg !platform:ubuntu-precise]
+python3-all-dev [platform:dpkg !platform:ubuntu-precise]
+python3-devel [platform:fedora]
+python34-devel [platform:centos]
+sqlite-devel [platform:rpm test]
diff --git a/doc/source/development.environment.rst b/doc/source/development.environment.rst
index 0b515601be67..fa4b5e578910 100644
--- a/doc/source/development.environment.rst
+++ b/doc/source/development.environment.rst
@@ -66,33 +66,51 @@ DevStack installs a complete OpenStack environment.  Alternatively,
 you can explicitly install and clone just what you need for Nova
 development.
 
-The first step of this process is to install the system (not Python)
-packages that are required.  Following are instructions on how to do
-this on Linux and on the Mac.
+Getting the code
+````````````````
+
+Grab the code from git::
+
+    git clone https://git.openstack.org/openstack/nova
+    cd nova
+
 
 Linux Systems
 `````````````
 
+The first step of this process is to install the system (not Python)
+packages that are required. Following are instructions on how to do
+this on Linux and on the Mac.
+
 .. note::
 
   This section is tested for Nova on Ubuntu (14.04-64) and
   Fedora-based (RHEL 6.1) distributions. Feel free to add notes and
   change according to your experiences or operating system.
 
-Install the prerequisite packages.
+Install the prerequisite packages listed in the ``bindep.txt``
+file.
 
-On Ubuntu::
+On Debian-based distributions (e.g., Debian/Mint/Ubuntu)::
 
-  sudo apt-get install python-dev libssl-dev python-pip git-core libxml2-dev libxslt-dev pkg-config libffi-dev libpq-dev libmysqlclient-dev graphviz libsqlite3-dev python-tox python3-dev python3 gettext
+  sudo apt-get install python-pip
+  sudo pip install tox
+  tox -e bindep
+  sudo apt-get install <indicated missing package names>
 
 On Fedora-based distributions (e.g., Fedora/RHEL/CentOS/Scientific Linux)::
 
-  sudo yum install python-devel openssl-devel python-pip git gcc libxslt-devel mysql-devel postgresql-devel libffi-devel libvirt-devel graphviz sqlite-devel python3-devel python3 gettext
-  sudo pip-python install tox
+  sudo yum install python-pip
+  sudo pip install tox
+  tox -e bindep
+  sudo yum install <indicated missing package names>
 
 On openSUSE-based distributions (SLES 12, openSUSE Leap 42.1 or Tumbleweed)::
 
-  sudo zypper in gcc git libffi-devel libmysqlclient-devel libvirt-devel libxslt-devel postgresql-devel python-devel python-pip python-tox python-virtualenv python3-devel python3 gettext-runtime
+  sudo zypper in python-pip
+  sudo pip install tox
+  tox -e bindep
+  sudo zypper in <indicated missing package names>
 
 
 Mac OS X Systems
@@ -112,18 +130,6 @@ fine with nova. OpenSSL versions from brew like OpenSSL 1.0.1k work fine
 as well.
 
 
-Getting the code
-````````````````
-
-Once you have the prerequisite system packages installed, the next
-step is to clone the code.
-
-Grab the code from git::
-
-    git clone https://git.openstack.org/openstack/nova
-    cd nova
-
-
 Building the Documentation
 ==========================
 
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 38ff8295b3ac..6328399c0f68 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -133,3 +133,14 @@ import_exceptions = nova.i18n
 # of the requirements.txt files
 deps = pip_missing_reqs
 commands=pip-missing-reqs -d --ignore-file=nova/tests/* --ignore-file=nova/test.py nova
+
+[testenv:bindep]
+# Do not install any requirements. We want this to be fast and work even if
+# system dependencies are missing, since it's used to tell you what system
+# dependencies are missing! This also means that bindep must be installed
+# separately, outside of the requirements files, and develop mode disabled
+# explicitly to avoid unnecessarily installing the checked-out repo too (this
+# further relies on "tox.skipsdist = True" above).
+deps = bindep
+commands = bindep test
+usedevelop = False