diff --git a/bindep.txt b/bindep.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4f9b4254
--- /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 4b15f2c2..83d31896 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -93,3 +93,13 @@ deps =
   -c{toxinidir}/lower-constraints.txt
   -r{toxinidir}/test-requirements.txt
   -r{toxinidir}/requirements.txt
+
+# 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