diff --git a/base_requirements.txt b/base_requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..76b5fc67d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/base_requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+mock
+xenapi
+coverage
+astroid==1.4.9
+pylint==1.5
+bitarray
diff --git a/dev_requirements.txt b/dev_requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2cff46a70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev_requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+nose
+-r base_requirements.txt
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 4aca9c081..bddba4720 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,2 @@
-mock
-xenapi
+-r base_requirements.txt
 coveralls
-coverage
-astroid==1.4.9
-pylint==1.5
-bitarray
diff --git a/tests/run_python_unittests.sh b/tests/run_python_unittests.sh
index b46f6380f..191b6f54c 100755
--- a/tests/run_python_unittests.sh
+++ b/tests/run_python_unittests.sh
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ set -eu
 
 SMROOT=$(cd $(dirname $0) && cd .. && pwd)
 
-if  [ ! -x "$(command -v nosetests)" ] || [ ! -x "$(command -v coverage)" ]; then
+if  [ ! -v RPM_BUILD_ROOT ]; then
     echo "Activating virtual env"
 
     ENVDIR="$SMROOT/.env"
diff --git a/tests/setup_env_for_python_unittests.sh b/tests/setup_env_for_python_unittests.sh
index 9eb47b5d6..3834c692c 100755
--- a/tests/setup_env_for_python_unittests.sh
+++ b/tests/setup_env_for_python_unittests.sh
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ pip install six
 pip install packaging
 pip install appdirs
 pip install --upgrade setuptools
-pip install nose
-pip install coverage
-pip install mock==1.0.1
-pip install bitarray
+pip install -r $SMROOT/dev_requirements.txt
+
+