diff --git a/doc/devel/release_guide.rst b/doc/devel/release_guide.rst
index 73d7eb8bea39..41b242669a2e 100644
--- a/doc/devel/release_guide.rst
+++ b/doc/devel/release_guide.rst
@@ -188,6 +188,10 @@ Once you have collected all of the wheels, generate the tarball ::
   git checkout v2.0.0
   git clean -xfd
   python setup.py sdist
+  # Generate test-only wheels.
+  for dir in sub-wheels/*; do
+    (cd "$dir" && python setup.py bdist_wheel)
+  done
 
 and copy all of the wheels into :file:`dist` directory.  You should use
 ``twine`` to upload all of the files to pypi ::
diff --git a/sub-wheels/matplotlib.tests/README.rst b/sub-wheels/matplotlib.tests/README.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..1bbf9b4fa118
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sub-wheels/matplotlib.tests/README.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+Running ``python setup.py bdist_wheel`` (*not* ``pip wheel .``) generates a
+wheel for a ``matplotlib.tests`` distribution (in the distutils sense, i.e.
+a PyPI package) that can be installed alongside a main, test-less Matplotlib
+distribution.
+
+Note that
+
+- ``pip wheel`` doesn't work as that starts by copying the *current* directory
+  to a temporary one (for isolation purposes), before we get to ``chdir`` back
+  to the root directory.
+- ``python setup.py sdist`` doesn't work as that would pick up the
+  ``MANIFEST.in`` file in the root directory.
diff --git a/sub-wheels/matplotlib.tests/setup.py b/sub-wheels/matplotlib.tests/setup.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..fc1a589f4712
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sub-wheels/matplotlib.tests/setup.py
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+import os
+from pathlib import Path
+import sys
+
+
+rootdir = str(Path(__file__).resolve().parents[2])
+sys.path.insert(0, rootdir)
+os.chdir(rootdir)
+
+
+from setuptools import setup, find_packages
+import versioneer
+
+
+__version__ = versioneer.get_version()
+
+
+if "sdist" in sys.argv:
+    sys.exit("Only wheels can be generated.")
+setup(
+    name="matplotlib.tests",
+    version=__version__,
+    package_dir={"": "lib"},
+    packages=find_packages("lib", include=["*.tests"]),
+    include_package_data=True,
+    install_requires=["matplotlib=={}".format(__version__)]
+)