diff --git a/python/.gitignore b/python/.gitignore
index 272ed223a8..c8b0e67fe6 100644
--- a/python/.gitignore
+++ b/python/.gitignore
@@ -14,3 +14,4 @@ qemu.egg-info/
 # virtual environments (pipenv et al)
 .venv/
 .tox/
+.dev-venv/
diff --git a/python/Makefile b/python/Makefile
index d34c4e35d9..8f8e1999c0 100644
--- a/python/Makefile
+++ b/python/Makefile
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+QEMU_VENV_DIR=.dev-venv
+
 .PHONY: help
 help:
 	@echo "python packaging help:"
@@ -14,6 +16,11 @@ help:
 	@echo "    Requires: Python 3.6 - 3.10, and tox."
 	@echo "    Hint (Fedora): 'sudo dnf install python3-tox python3.10'"
 	@echo ""
+	@echo "make check-dev:"
+	@echo "    Run tests in a venv against your default python3 version."
+	@echo "    These tests use the newest dependencies."
+	@echo "    Requires: Python 3.x"
+	@echo ""
 	@echo "make develop:    Install deps for 'make check', and"
 	@echo "                 the qemu libs in editable/development mode."
 	@echo ""
@@ -22,6 +29,9 @@ help:
 	@echo "make pipenv"
 	@echo "    Creates pipenv's virtual environment (.venv)"
 	@echo ""
+	@echo "make dev-venv"
+	@echo "    Creates a simple venv for check-dev. ($(QEMU_VENV_DIR))"
+	@echo ""
 	@echo "make clean:      remove package build output."
 	@echo ""
 	@echo "make distclean:  remove venv files, qemu package forwarder,"
@@ -38,9 +48,30 @@ pipenv: .venv
 check-pipenv: pipenv
 	@pipenv run make check
 
+.PHONY: dev-venv
+dev-venv: $(QEMU_VENV_DIR) $(QEMU_VENV_DIR)/bin/activate
+$(QEMU_VENV_DIR) $(QEMU_VENV_DIR)/bin/activate: setup.cfg
+	@echo "VENV $(QEMU_VENV_DIR)"
+	@python3 -m venv $(QEMU_VENV_DIR)
+	@(							\
+		echo "ACTIVATE $(QEMU_VENV_DIR)";		\
+		. $(QEMU_VENV_DIR)/bin/activate;		\
+		echo "INSTALL qemu[devel] $(QEMU_VENV_DIR)";	\
+		make develop 1>/dev/null;			\
+	)
+	@touch $(QEMU_VENV_DIR)
+
+.PHONY: check-dev
+check-dev: dev-venv
+	@(							\
+		echo "ACTIVATE $(QEMU_VENV_DIR)";		\
+		. $(QEMU_VENV_DIR)/bin/activate;		\
+		make check;					\
+	)
+
 .PHONY: develop
 develop:
-	pip3 install -e .[devel]
+	pip3 install --disable-pip-version-check -e .[devel]
 
 .PHONY: check
 check:
@@ -56,4 +87,4 @@ clean:
 
 .PHONY: distclean
 distclean: clean
-	rm -rf qemu.egg-info/ .venv/ .tox/ dist/
+	rm -rf qemu.egg-info/ .venv/ .tox/ $(QEMU_VENV_DIR) dist/