diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 109b345c576e961d11ba61604b40f9dcc7146f97..1f1af6a4ac4fe3cf73a3cee5f8e95f67714d50ff 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -16,7 +16,11 @@
 import glob
 import os
 # pylint: disable=E0611
-from distutils.core import setup
+
+try:
+    from setuptools import setup
+except ImportError:
+    from distutils.core import setup
 
 import avocado.version
 
@@ -71,6 +75,16 @@ def _get_plugin_resource_files(path):
     return flist
 
 
+def get_requirements():
+    requirements = []
+    with open('requirements.txt', 'r') as req:
+        req_contents = req.read()
+        for line in req_contents.splitlines():
+            if not line.startswith("#"):
+                line = line.split("#")[0].strip()
+                requirements.append("%s" % line)
+    return requirements
+
 setup(name='avocado',
       version=avocado.version.VERSION,
       description='Avocado Test Framework',
@@ -86,4 +100,5 @@ setup(name='avocado',
                 'avocado.plugins'],
       package_data={'avocado.plugins': _get_plugin_resource_files('avocado/plugins/resources')},
       data_files=get_data_files(),
-      scripts=['scripts/avocado'])
+      scripts=['scripts/avocado'],
+      install_requires=get_requirements())