diff --git a/doc/source/contributor/running-tests.rst b/doc/source/contributor/running-tests.rst
index bf9481a2f5..16c55a3cb2 100644
--- a/doc/source/contributor/running-tests.rst
+++ b/doc/source/contributor/running-tests.rst
@@ -28,11 +28,11 @@ so the only package you install is ``tox`` itself:
 For more information, see `the unit testing section of the Testing wiki page
 <https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Testing#Unit_Tests>`_. For example:
 
-To run the Python 2.7 tests:
+To run the Python 3.7 tests:
 
 .. code-block:: console
 
-   tox -e py27
+   tox -e py37
 
 To run the style tests:
 
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ To run multiple tests separate items by commas:
 
 .. code-block:: console
 
-   tox -e py27,py37,pep8
+   tox -e py37,pep8
 
 Running a subset of tests
 -------------------------
@@ -58,28 +58,28 @@ directory use:
 
 .. code-block:: console
 
-   tox -e py27 kolla-ansible.tests
+   tox -e py37 kolla-ansible.tests
 
 To run the tests of a specific file
 ``kolla-ansible/tests/test_kolla_docker.py``:
 
 .. code-block:: console
 
-   tox -e py27 test_kolla_docker
+   tox -e py37 test_kolla_docker
 
 To run the tests in the ``ModuleArgsTest`` class in
 the ``kolla-ansible/tests/test_kolla_docker.py`` file:
 
 .. code-block:: console
 
-   tox -e py27 test_kolla_docker.ModuleArgsTest
+   tox -e py37 test_kolla_docker.ModuleArgsTest
 
 To run the ``ModuleArgsTest.test_module_args`` test method in
 the ``kolla-ansible/tests/test_kolla_docker.py`` file:
 
 .. code-block:: console
 
-   tox -e py27 test_kolla_docker.ModuleArgsTest.test_module_args
+   tox -e py37 test_kolla_docker.ModuleArgsTest.test_module_args
 
 Debugging unit tests
 --------------------
diff --git a/lower-constraints.txt b/lower-constraints.txt
index 13855e307c..de4283fcac 100644
--- a/lower-constraints.txt
+++ b/lower-constraints.txt
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ jsonpointer==2.0
 jsonschema==2.6.0
 keystoneauth1==3.4.0
 linecache2==1.0.0
-MarkupSafe==1.0
+MarkupSafe==1.1.0
 monotonic==1.4
 mox3==0.25.0
 msgpack==0.5.6
@@ -73,7 +73,6 @@ requests==2.18.4
 requestsexceptions==1.4.0
 restructuredtext-lint==1.1.3
 rfc3986==1.2.0
-setuptools==21.0.0
 simplejson==3.13.2
 six==1.10.0
 smmap2==2.0.3
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 66c6cd386d..d38c44e6fb 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,13 +1,17 @@
-# The order of packages is significant, because pip processes them in the order
-# of appearance. Changing the order has an impact on the overall integration
-# process, which may cause wedges in the gate later.
 pbr!=2.1.0,>=2.0.0 # Apache-2.0
-docker>=2.4.2 # Apache-2.0
-Jinja2>=2.10 # BSD License (3 clause)
+
+# ini parsing
 oslo.config>=5.2.0 # Apache-2.0
-oslo.utils>=3.33.0 # Apache-2.0
-setuptools!=24.0.0,!=34.0.0,!=34.0.1,!=34.0.2,!=34.0.3,!=34.1.0,!=34.1.1,!=34.2.0,!=34.3.0,!=34.3.1,!=34.3.2,!=36.2.0,>=21.0.0 # PSF/ZPL
+
+# YAML parsing
 PyYAML>=3.12 # MIT
-netaddr>=0.7.18 # BSD
+
+# password generation
 cryptography>=2.1 # BSD/Apache-2.0
+oslo.utils>=3.33.0 # Apache-2.0
+
+# templating
+Jinja2>=2.10 # BSD License (3 clause)
+
+# Ansible's json_query
 jmespath>=0.9.3 # MIT
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 825cca7786..e8f2f40c56 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ description-file =
 author = OpenStack
 author-email = openstack-discuss@lists.openstack.org
 home-page = https://docs.openstack.org/kolla-ansible/latest/
+python-requires = >=3.6
 license = Apache License, Version 2.0
 classifier =
     Environment :: OpenStack
@@ -14,6 +15,8 @@ classifier =
     License :: OSI Approved :: Apache Software License
     Operating System :: POSIX :: Linux
     Programming Language :: Python
+    Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPython
+    Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: Only
     Programming Language :: Python :: 3
     Programming Language :: Python :: 3.6
     Programming Language :: Python :: 3.7
@@ -41,8 +44,3 @@ scripts =
 console_scripts =
     kolla-genpwd = kolla_ansible.cmd.genpwd:main
     kolla-mergepwd = kolla_ansible.cmd.mergepwd:main
-
-[build_releasenotes]
-all_files = 1
-build-dir = releasenotes/build
-source-dir = releasenotes/source
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 566d84432e..cd35c3c35b 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -13,17 +13,8 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-# THIS FILE IS MANAGED BY THE GLOBAL REQUIREMENTS REPO - DO NOT EDIT
 import setuptools
 
-# In python < 2.7.4, a lazy loading of package `pbr` will break
-# setuptools if some other modules registered functions in `atexit`.
-# solution from: http://bugs.python.org/issue15881#msg170215
-try:
-    import multiprocessing  # noqa
-except ImportError:
-    pass
-
 setuptools.setup(
     setup_requires=['pbr>=2.0.0'],
     pbr=True)
diff --git a/test-requirements.txt b/test-requirements.txt
index 9e9aeb5c29..d1e5b433f1 100644
--- a/test-requirements.txt
+++ b/test-requirements.txt
@@ -1,18 +1,13 @@
-# The order of packages is significant, because pip processes them in the order
-# of appearance. Changing the order has an impact on the overall integration
-# process, which may cause wedges in the gate later.
+# linting
 bandit>=1.1.0 # Apache-2.0
 bashate>=0.5.1 # Apache-2.0
-beautifulsoup4>=4.6.0 # MIT
-coverage!=4.4,>=4.0 # Apache-2.0
 doc8>=0.6.0 # Apache-2.0
-extras>=1.0.0 # MIT
 hacking>=3.0,<3.1.0 # Apache-2.0
-oslo.log>=3.36.0 # Apache-2.0
+
+# coverage testing
+coverage!=4.4,>=4.0 # Apache-2.0
+
+# unit testing
+docker>=2.4.2 # Apache-2.0
 oslotest>=3.2.0 # Apache-2.0
-PrettyTable<0.8,>=0.7.1 # BSD
-PyYAML>=3.12 # MIT
-pytz>=2013.6 # MIT
 stestr>=2.0.0 # Apache-2.0
-testscenarios>=0.4 # Apache-2.0/BSD
-testtools>=2.2.0 # MIT
diff --git a/tests/test_kolla_docker.py b/tests/test_kolla_docker.py
index b2b9cca3d9..27ef9d4a29 100644
--- a/tests/test_kolla_docker.py
+++ b/tests/test_kolla_docker.py
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ from docker.types import Ulimit
 from oslotest import base
 
 this_dir = os.path.dirname(sys.modules[__name__].__file__)
+# FIXME(yoctozepto): this modifies global interpreter state and affects tests
+# from other files
 sys.modules['ansible'] = mock.MagicMock()
 sys.modules['ansible.module_utils'] = mock.MagicMock()
 sys.modules['ansible.module_utils.basic'] = mock.MagicMock()
diff --git a/tests/test_merge_config.py b/tests/test_merge_config.py
index ccc7029479..1638186f5d 100644
--- a/tests/test_merge_config.py
+++ b/tests/test_merge_config.py
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ PROJECT_DIR = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os. path.dirname(__file__), '../'))
 MERGE_CONFIG_FILE = os.path.join(PROJECT_DIR,
                                  'ansible/action_plugins/merge_configs.py')
 
+# FIXME(yoctozepto): this modifies global interpreter state and affects tests
+# from other files
 sys.modules['ansible.plugins'] = mock.MagicMock()
 
 merge_configs = imp.load_source('merge_configs', MERGE_CONFIG_FILE)
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index d0f327fb06..9f1b6c296a 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ basepython = python3
 usedevelop=True
 whitelist_externals = find
                       rm
-install_command = pip install {opts} {packages}
 deps = -c{env:UPPER_CONSTRAINTS_FILE:https://releases.openstack.org/constraints/upper/master}
        -r{toxinidir}/requirements.txt
        -r{toxinidir}/test-requirements.txt