diff --git a/.ansible-lint b/.ansible-lint
index 056d0c2e2..68c8a982c 100644
--- a/.ansible-lint
+++ b/.ansible-lint
@@ -1,11 +1,10 @@
 exclude_paths:
-  - playbooks/legacy
+  - test-playbooks/  # TODO(ssbarnea): remove skip in follow-up
 parseable: true
-# [204] Lines should be no longer than 160 chars
-# [301] Commands should not change things if nothing needs doing
+quiet: false
 skip_list:
-  - '204'
-  - '301'
+  - '204'  # Lines should be no longer than 160 chars
+  - '301'  # Commands should not change things if nothing needs doing
 rulesdir:
   - ./.rules/
 use_default_rules: true
diff --git a/linters-requirements.txt b/linters-requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d29346d45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/linters-requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# linters have different requirements than test ones, some would
+# conflict, like ansible version required by ansible-lint.
+flake8
+yamllint>=1.23.0
+ansible-lint>=4.3.0a1,<5
diff --git a/test-playbooks/ansible-lint-rules/run.yaml b/test-playbooks/ansible-lint-rules/run.yaml
index b2f1d0c08..3581612bd 100644
--- a/test-playbooks/ansible-lint-rules/run.yaml
+++ b/test-playbooks/ansible-lint-rules/run.yaml
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@
         state: directory
       register: ansible_lint_tempdir
 
-    - name: Install test-requirements.txt
+    - name: Install linters-requirements.txt
       pip:
-        requirements: "{{ansible_user_dir}}/{{ zuul.project.src_dir }}/test-requirements.txt"
+        requirements: "{{ansible_user_dir}}/{{ zuul.project.src_dir }}/linters-requirements.txt"
         virtualenv: "{{ ansible_lint_tempdir.path }}"
 
     - name: Make sure ansible-lint is installed
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
 
     - name: Make sure faulty roles fail linting
       command: >-
-        {{ ansible_lint_tempdir.path }}/bin/ansible-lint
+        {{ ansible_lint_tempdir.path }}/bin/ansible-lint -c /dev/null
         -t {{ item | regex_replace('.*/(ZUULJOBS.*?)/.*', '\1') }}
         {{ item }}
       args:
diff --git a/test-requirements.txt b/test-requirements.txt
index 867929351..bb9d8d22e 100644
--- a/test-requirements.txt
+++ b/test-requirements.txt
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 # 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.
-flake8
-yamllint>=1.23.0
 
 # We need to pin the ansible version directly here; per the
 # deprecation policy it should trail the version used by Zuul by 4
@@ -12,9 +10,6 @@ yamllint>=1.23.0
 # dependency solver and the uncapped ansible requirement from
 # ansible-lint pull in the latest version.
 ansible>=2.6,<2.7 # https://review.opendev.org/#/c/650431/
-# Don't automatically switch to ansible-lint 5 when it becomes
-# available, so that it can be evaluated for an orderly transition.
-ansible-lint>=4.1.1a0,<5
 stestr>=1.0.0,<3.0.0;python_version<'3.5' # Apache-2.0
 stestr>=1.0.0;python_version>='3.5' # Apache-2.0
 # For upload-logs-swift:
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index c88cd6f74..f9af04466 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -41,13 +41,14 @@ passenv =
 setenv =
   ANSIBLE_LIBRARY= {toxinidir}/tests/fake-ansible
 whitelist_externals = bash
+deps =
+  -r{toxinidir}/linters-requirements.txt
+
 commands =
   flake8 {posargs}
   yamllint -s -f parsable .
-  bash -c "find playbooks -type f -regex '.*.ya?ml' ! -regex '.*vars\/.*' -print0 | \
-    xargs -t -0 ansible-lint"
-  bash -c 'find roles -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d | \
-    xargs -t ansible-lint'
+  python -m ansiblelint --version
+  python -m ansiblelint {env:ANSIBLELINT_OPTS:}
   # Ansible Syntax Check
   bash -c "find playbooks -type f -regex '.*.ya?ml' ! -regex '.*vars\/.*' -exec \
     ansible-playbook --syntax-check -i {toxinidir}/tests/inventory \{\} + > /dev/null"