diff --git a/docs/devel/ci.rst b/docs/devel/ci.rst
index 585b7bf4b8..35c6b5e269 100644
--- a/docs/devel/ci.rst
+++ b/docs/devel/ci.rst
@@ -26,3 +26,33 @@ gitlab-runner, is called a "custom runner".
 The GitLab CI jobs definition for the custom runners are located under::
 
   .gitlab-ci.d/custom-runners.yml
+
+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.  It covers a number of different Linux distributions and
+FreeBSD.
+
+To run the playbook, execute::
+
+  cd scripts/ci/setup
+  ansible-playbook -i inventory build-environment.yml
diff --git a/scripts/ci/setup/build-environment.yml b/scripts/ci/setup/build-environment.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..664f2f0519
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/ci/setup/build-environment.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+---
+- name: Installation of basic packages to build QEMU
+  hosts: all
+  tasks:
+    - name: Update apt cache
+      apt:
+        update_cache: 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 0000000000..2fbb50c4a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/ci/setup/inventory.template
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+localhost
