diff --git a/bindep.txt b/bindep.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4f9b42547
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bindep.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# This is a cross-platform list tracking distribution packages needed by tests;
+# see http://docs.openstack.org/infra/bindep/ for additional information.
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 3a675b540..ef434fe9a 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -22,3 +22,13 @@ commands = flake8
 passenv =
   SSH_AUTH_SOCK
 commands = python scripts/tripleo-jobs-gerrit.py {posargs}
+
+# This environment can be used to quickly validate that all needed system
+# packages required to successfully execute test targets are installed
+[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.
+deps = bindep
+commands = bindep test