diff --git a/bindep.txt b/bindep.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9c37fd538
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bindep.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# This is a cross-platform list tracking distribution packages needed by tests;
+# see http://docs.openstack.org/infra/bindep/ for additional information.
+
+build-essential [platform:dpkg]
+python-dev [platform:dpkg]
+python-devel [platform:rpm]