diff --git a/bindep.txt b/bindep.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..524b30732
--- /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/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 7fe11a035..7e36936fb 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -131,3 +131,14 @@ 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