diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index 39e693f1014f..37dd3758c67f 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 include INSTALL.rst README.rst
-include pytest.ini
 include MANIFEST.in
 include matplotlibrc.template setup.cfg.template
 include setupext.py setup.py
@@ -20,4 +19,3 @@ recursive-include tools *
 recursive-include tutorials *
 include versioneer.py
 include lib/matplotlib/_version.py
-include tests.py
diff --git a/doc/devel/release_guide.rst b/doc/devel/release_guide.rst
index aac6fe5438fc..8e09d9e03c75 100644
--- a/doc/devel/release_guide.rst
+++ b/doc/devel/release_guide.rst
@@ -277,6 +277,10 @@ day), 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.  First, check
 that the dist files are OK ::
diff --git a/setup.cfg.template b/setup.cfg.template
index 562544fb1e59..f0882a7573f6 100644
--- a/setup.cfg.template
+++ b/setup.cfg.template
@@ -9,13 +9,6 @@
 #system_freetype = False
 #system_qhull = False
 
-[packages]
-# There are a number of data subpackages from Matplotlib that are
-# considered optional. All except 'tests' data (meaning the baseline
-# image files) are installed by default, but that can be changed here.
-#tests = False
-#sample_data = True
-
 [gui_support]
 # Matplotlib supports multiple GUI toolkits, known as backends.
 # The MacOSX backend requires the Cocoa headers included with XCode.
diff --git a/sub-wheels/matplotlib.tests/MANIFEST.in b/sub-wheels/matplotlib.tests/MANIFEST.in
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..cbbebbab4daa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sub-wheels/matplotlib.tests/MANIFEST.in
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+include sub-wheels/matplotlib.tests/README.rst
+include sub-wheels/matplotlib.tests/MANIFEST.in
+include matplotlibrc.template sub-wheels/matplotlib.test/setup.cfg.template
+include pytest.ini
+include tests.py
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.cfg.template b/sub-wheels/matplotlib.tests/setup.cfg.template
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..99868180f5f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sub-wheels/matplotlib.tests/setup.cfg.template
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# Rename this file to setup.cfg to modify Matplotlib-tests's build options.
+
+[packages]
+# There are a number of data subpackages from Matplotlib that are
+# considered optional. All except 'tests' data (meaning the baseline
+# image files) are installed by default, but that can be changed here.
+#tests = False
+#sample_data = True
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__)]
+)