diff --git a/docs/devel/ci.rst b/docs/devel/ci.rst
index 064ffa998893..bfedbb1025ea 100644
--- a/docs/devel/ci.rst
+++ b/docs/devel/ci.rst
@@ -30,3 +30,43 @@ The GitLab CI jobs definition for the custom runners are located under::
 Custom runners entail custom machines.  To see a list of the machines
 currently deployed in the QEMU GitLab CI and their maintainers, please
 refer to the QEMU `wiki <https://wiki.qemu.org/AdminContacts>`__.
+
+Machine Setup Howto
+-------------------
+
+For all Linux based systems, the setup can be mostly automated by the
+execution of two Ansible playbooks.  Create an ``inventory`` file
+under ``scripts/ci/setup``, such as this::
+
+  fully.qualified.domain
+  other.machine.hostname
+
+You may need to set some variables in the inventory file itself.  One
+very common need is to tell Ansible to use a Python 3 interpreter on
+those hosts.  This would look like::
+
+  fully.qualified.domain ansible_python_interpreter=/usr/bin/python3
+  other.machine.hostname ansible_python_interpreter=/usr/bin/python3
+
+Build environment
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The ``scripts/ci/setup/build-environment.yml`` Ansible playbook will
+set up machines with the environment needed to perform builds and run
+QEMU tests.  This playbook consists on the installation of various
+required packages (and a general package update while at it).  It
+currently covers a number of different Linux distributions, but it can
+be expanded to cover other systems.
+
+The minimum required version of Ansible successfully tested in this
+playbook is 2.8.0 (a version check is embedded within the playbook
+itself).  To run the playbook, execute::
+
+  cd scripts/ci/setup
+  ansible-playbook -i inventory build-environment.yml
+
+Please note that most of the tasks in the playbook require superuser
+privileges, such as those from the ``root`` account or those obtained
+by ``sudo``.  If necessary, please refer to ``ansible-playbook``
+options such as ``--become``, ``--become-method``, ``--become-user``
+and ``--ask-become-pass``.
diff --git a/scripts/ci/setup/.gitignore b/scripts/ci/setup/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..ee088604d191
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/ci/setup/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+inventory
+
diff --git a/scripts/ci/setup/build-environment.yml b/scripts/ci/setup/build-environment.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..581c1c75d19c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/ci/setup/build-environment.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+# Copyright (c) 2021 Red Hat, Inc.
+#
+# Author:
+#  Cleber Rosa <crosa@redhat.com>
+#
+# This work is licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL, version 2 or
+# later.  See the COPYING file in the top-level directory.
+#
+# This is an ansible playbook file.  Run it to set up systems with the
+# environment needed to build QEMU.
+---
+- name: Installation of basic packages to build QEMU
+  hosts: all
+  tasks:
+    - name: Check for suitable ansible version
+      delegate_to: localhost
+      assert:
+        that:
+          - '((ansible_version.major == 2) and (ansible_version.minor >= 8)) or (ansible_version.major >= 3)'
+        msg: "Unsuitable ansible version, please use version 2.8.0 or later"
+
+    - name: Update apt cache / upgrade packages via apt
+      apt:
+        update_cache: yes
+        upgrade: yes
+      when:
+        - ansible_facts['distribution'] == 'Ubuntu'
+
+    - name: Install basic packages to build QEMU on Ubuntu 18.04/20.04
+      package:
+        name:
+        # Originally from tests/docker/dockerfiles/ubuntu1804.docker
+          - ccache
+          - gcc
+          - gettext
+          - git
+          - glusterfs-common
+          - libaio-dev
+          - libattr1-dev
+          - libbrlapi-dev
+          - libbz2-dev
+          - libcacard-dev
+          - libcap-ng-dev
+          - libcurl4-gnutls-dev
+          - libdrm-dev
+          - libepoxy-dev
+          - libfdt-dev
+          - libgbm-dev
+          - libgtk-3-dev
+          - libibverbs-dev
+          - libiscsi-dev
+          - libjemalloc-dev
+          - libjpeg-turbo8-dev
+          - liblzo2-dev
+          - libncurses5-dev
+          - libncursesw5-dev
+          - libnfs-dev
+          - libnss3-dev
+          - libnuma-dev
+          - libpixman-1-dev
+          - librados-dev
+          - librbd-dev
+          - librdmacm-dev
+          - libsasl2-dev
+          - libsdl2-dev
+          - libseccomp-dev
+          - libsnappy-dev
+          - libspice-protocol-dev
+          - libssh-dev
+          - libusb-1.0-0-dev
+          - libusbredirhost-dev
+          - libvdeplug-dev
+          - libvte-2.91-dev
+          - libzstd-dev
+          - make
+          - python3-yaml
+          - python3-sphinx
+          - python3-sphinx-rtd-theme
+          - ninja-build
+          - sparse
+          - xfslibs-dev
+        state: present
+      when:
+        - ansible_facts['distribution'] == 'Ubuntu'
+
+    - name: Install packages to build QEMU on Ubuntu 18.04/20.04 on non-s390x
+      package:
+        name:
+          - libspice-server-dev
+          - libxen-dev
+        state: present
+      when:
+        - ansible_facts['distribution'] == 'Ubuntu'
+        - ansible_facts['architecture'] != 's390x'
+
+    - name: Install basic packages to build QEMU on Ubuntu 18.04
+      package:
+        name:
+        # Originally from tests/docker/dockerfiles/ubuntu1804.docker
+          - clang
+      when:
+        - ansible_facts['distribution'] == 'Ubuntu'
+        - ansible_facts['distribution_version'] == '18.04'
+
+    - name: Install basic packages to build QEMU on Ubuntu 20.04
+      package:
+        name:
+        # Originally from tests/docker/dockerfiles/ubuntu2004.docker
+          - clang-10
+          - genisoimage
+          - liblttng-ust-dev
+          - libslirp-dev
+          - netcat-openbsd
+      when:
+        - ansible_facts['distribution'] == 'Ubuntu'
+        - ansible_facts['distribution_version'] == '20.04'
diff --git a/scripts/ci/setup/inventory.template b/scripts/ci/setup/inventory.template
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..2fbb50c4a8dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/ci/setup/inventory.template
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+localhost