diff --git a/bindep.txt b/bindep.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4a1add2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bindep.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# A build time dependency
+# these are needed to compile Python dependencies from sources
+python-dev [platform:dpkg test]
+python3-all-dev [platform:dpkg !platform:ubuntu-precise test]
+python-devel [platform:rpm test]
+python3-devel [platform:rpm test]
+build-essential [platform:dpkg test]
+# these are needed by infra for python-* jobs
+mariadb [platform:rpm test]
+mariadb-server [platform:rpm test]
+mysql-client [platform:dpkg test]
+mysql-server [platform:dpkg test]
+