diff --git docs/index.rst docs/index.rst
index 1172a49..a4eaf5f 100644
--- docs/index.rst
+++ docs/index.rst
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ Contents:
     :maxdepth: 2
     :includehidden:
 
+    installation/index
     core/index
     conch/index
     lore/index
diff --git docs/installation/howto/optional.rst docs/installation/howto/optional.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5805286
--- /dev/null
+++ docs/installation/howto/optional.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,151 @@
+
+:LastChangedDate: $LastChangedDate$
+:LastChangedRevision: $LastChangedRevision$
+:LastChangedBy: $LastChangedBy$
+
+
+
+
+
+Installing Optional Dependencies
+================================
+
+
+
+
+This document describes how to install optional dependencies that Twisted's developers find helpful.
+The target audience of this document is someone who is both familiar with pip and would like to install Twisted and several of its optional dependencies.
+
+
+
+Twisted takes advantage of setuptools' `extra_requires` functionality to simplify the process of installing optional dependencies.
+In the list below, the `italicized`  word is the `extra option` that is passed to `pip` to install an optional set of dependencies.
+
+
+
+
+.. _dev :
+
+- `dev` - packages to aid in the development of Twisted (linters, documentation builder, etc.).
+    - `twistedchecker`_
+    - `pyflakes`_
+    - `twisted-dev-tools`_
+    - `python-subunit`_
+    - `sphinx`_
+    - `pydoctor`_
+
+
+
+
+.. _tls :
+
+- `tls` - packages that are needed to work with `TLS` from twisted.
+    - `pyopenssl`_
+    - `service_identity`_
+
+
+
+
+
+.. _conch :
+
+- `conch` - packages for working with conch/ssh.
+    - `gmpy`_
+    - `pyasn1`_
+    - `pycrypto`_
+
+
+
+
+
+.. _soap :
+
+- `soap` - installs the `soappy`_ package to work with SOAP.
+
+
+
+
+
+.. _serial :
+
+- `serial` - installs the `pyserial`_ package to work with serial data.
+
+
+
+
+
+.. _all_non_plat :
+
+- `all_non_plat` - install all of the optional dependencies included in the the following options: :ref:`dev`, :ref:`tls`, :ref:`conch`, :ref:`soap`, and :ref:`serial` options.
+
+
+
+
+
+The following install all of the optional dependencies listed above with the addition of a platform specific library.
+
+
+
+
+
+.. _osx_plat :
+
+- `osx_plat` installs `pyobjc`_ to work with Objective-C apis.
+
+
+
+
+
+.. _windows_plat :
+
+- `windows_plat` installs `pypiwin32`_ to work with Windows' apis.
+
+
+
+
+
+Installing Twisted with all of the :ref:`dev` options would be done using the following:
+
+
+
+
+
+.. code-block:: shell
+
+		$ pip install "twisted[dev]"
+
+
+
+
+
+To install multiple options at the same time, you need only provide `pip` a comma seperated list of options that you would like to install.
+For example, to install the :ref:`dev` and :ref:`tls` extra packages at the same time, you'd call `pip` like so:
+
+
+
+
+
+.. code-block:: shell
+
+		$ pip install "twisted[dev, tls]"
+
+
+
+
+
+.. _pip: https://pip.pypa.io/en/latest/quickstart.html
+.. _twistedchecker: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/TwistedChecker
+.. _pyflakes: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyflakes
+.. _twisted-dev-tools: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/twisted-dev-tools
+.. _python-subunit: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/python-subunit
+.. _sphinx: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/Sphinx/1.3b1
+.. _pydoctor: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pydoctor
+.. _pyopenssl: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyOpenSSL
+.. _service_identity: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/service_identity
+.. _gmpy: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/gmpy/1.17
+.. _pyasn1: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyasn1
+.. _pycrypto: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pycrypto
+.. _soappy: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/SOAPpy
+.. _pyserial: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyserial
+.. _pyobjc: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyobjc
+.. _pypiwin32: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pypiwin32
diff --git docs/installation/index.rst docs/installation/index.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f44260
--- /dev/null
+++ docs/installation/index.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+
+:LastChangedDate: $LastChangedDate$
+:LastChangedRevision: $LastChangedRevision$
+:LastChangedBy: $LastChangedBy$
+
+Installing Twisted
+==================
+
+
+.. toctree::
+   :hidden:
+
+
+
+
+   howto/optional
+
+
+
+
+- :doc:`Installing Optional Dependencies <howto/optional>`: documentation
+  on how to install Twisted's optional dependencies.
diff --git setup.py setup.py
index 26f052b..e63f1b5 100755
--- setup.py
+++ setup.py
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ dependency resolution is disabled.
 
     from twisted.python.dist import (
         STATIC_PACKAGE_METADATA, getDataFiles, getExtensions, getAllScripts,
-        getPackages, setup)
+        getPackages, setup, EXTRAS_REQUIRE)
 
     scripts = getAllScripts()
 
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ dependency resolution is disabled.
         packages=getPackages('twisted'),
         conditionalExtensions=getExtensions(),
         scripts=scripts,
+        extras_require=EXTRAS_REQUIRE,
         data_files=getDataFiles('twisted'),
         **STATIC_PACKAGE_METADATA))
 
diff --git twisted/python/dist.py twisted/python/dist.py
index 63b36b3..ef7bab9 100644
--- twisted/python/dist.py
+++ twisted/python/dist.py
@@ -49,6 +49,54 @@ twisted_subprojects = ["conch", "lore", "mail", "names",
                        "news", "pair", "runner", "web",
                        "words"]
 
+# These are the actual package names and versions that will
+# be used by extras_require. This is not passed to setup
+# directly so that combinations of the packages can be created
+# without the need to copy package names multiple times.
+_extra_options = dict(
+    dev=['twistedchecker >= 0.2.0',
+         'pyflakes >= 0.8.1',
+         'twisted-dev-tools >= 0.0.2',
+         'python-subunit',
+         'sphinx >= 1.2.2',
+         'pydoctor >= 0.5'],
+    tls=['pyopenssl >= 0.11',
+         'service_identity'],
+    conch=['gmpy',
+           'pyasn1',
+           'pycrypto'],
+    soap=['soappy'],
+    serial=['pyserial'],
+    osx=['pyobjc'],
+    windows=['pypiwin32']
+)
+
+_platform_independent = (
+    _extra_options['dev'] +
+    _extra_options['tls'] +
+    _extra_options['conch'] +
+    _extra_options['soap'] +
+    _extra_options['serial']
+)
+
+# extras_require is a dictionary of items that can be passed to setup.py
+# to install optional dependencies. For example, to install the optional
+# dev dependencies one would type `pip install -e ".[dev]"`
+# This has been supported by setuptools since 0.5a4
+EXTRAS_REQUIRE = {
+    'dev': _extra_options['dev'],
+    'tls': _extra_options['tls'],
+    'conch': _extra_options['conch'],
+    'soap': _extra_options['soap'],
+    'serial': _extra_options['serial'],
+    'all_non_plat': _platform_independent,
+    'osx_plat': (
+        _extra_options['osx'] + _platform_independent
+    ),
+    'windows_plat':(
+        _extra_options['windows'] + _platform_independent
+    ),
+}
 
 
 class ConditionalExtension(Extension):
diff --git twisted/python/test/test_dist.py twisted/python/test/test_dist.py
index d2288ee..a3ca4d2 100644
--- twisted/python/test/test_dist.py
+++ twisted/python/test/test_dist.py
@@ -9,13 +9,13 @@ Tests for parts of our release automation system.
 import os
 import sys
 
-from distutils.core import Distribution
+from setuptools.dist import Distribution
 
 from twisted.trial.unittest import TestCase
 
 from twisted.python import dist
 from twisted.python.dist import (get_setup_args, ConditionalExtension,
-    build_scripts_twisted)
+                                 build_scripts_twisted, EXTRAS_REQUIRE)
 from twisted.python.filepath import FilePath
 
 
@@ -58,6 +58,150 @@ class SetupTest(TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(ext.define_macros, [("whatever", 2), ("WIN32", 1)])
 
 
+class OptionalDependenciesTests(TestCase):
+    """
+    Tests for L{dist.EXTRA_REQUIRES}
+    """
+    def test_distributeTakesExtrasRequire(self):
+        """
+        Test that setuptools' Distribution object can use extra_requires.
+        """
+        extras = dict(im_an_extra_dependency="thing")
+        attrs = dict(extras_require=extras)
+        dist = Distribution(attrs)
+        self.assertEqual(
+            extras,
+            dist.extras_require
+        )
+
+    def test_extrasRequireDictContainsKeys(self):
+        """
+        L{dist.EXTRA_REQUIRES} C{dev} option contains a valid
+        list with correct dependecies.
+        """
+        self.assertIn('dev', EXTRAS_REQUIRE)
+        self.assertIn('tls', EXTRAS_REQUIRE)
+        self.assertIn('conch', EXTRAS_REQUIRE)
+        self.assertIn('soap', EXTRAS_REQUIRE)
+        self.assertIn('serial', EXTRAS_REQUIRE)
+        self.assertIn('all_non_plat', EXTRAS_REQUIRE)
+        self.assertIn('osx_plat', EXTRAS_REQUIRE)
+        self.assertIn('windows_plat', EXTRAS_REQUIRE)
+
+    def test_extrasRequiresDevDepsAreValid(self):
+        """
+        L{dist.EXTRA_REQUIRES} C{dev} option contains the correct
+        dependencies.
+        """
+        deps = EXTRAS_REQUIRE['dev']
+        self.assertIn('twistedchecker >= 0.2.0', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pyflakes >= 0.8.1', deps)
+        self.assertIn('twisted-dev-tools >= 0.0.2', deps)
+        self.assertIn('python-subunit', deps)
+        self.assertIn('sphinx >= 1.2.2', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pydoctor >= 0.5', deps)
+
+    def test_extrasRequiresTlsDepsAreValid(self):
+        """
+        L{dist.EXTRA_REQUIRES} C{tls} option contains the correct
+        dependencies.
+        """
+        deps = EXTRAS_REQUIRE['tls']
+        self.assertIn('pyopenssl >= 0.11', deps)
+        self.assertIn('service_identity', deps)
+
+    def test_extrasRequiresConchDepsAreValid(self):
+        """
+        L{dist.EXTRA_REQUIRES} C{conch} option contains the correct
+        dependencies.
+        """
+        deps = EXTRAS_REQUIRE['conch']
+        self.assertIn('gmpy', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pyasn1', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pycrypto', deps)
+
+    def test_extrasRequiresSoapDepsAreValid(self):
+        """
+        L{dist.EXTRA_REQUIRES} C{soap} option contains the correct
+        dependecies.
+        """
+        self.assertIn(
+            'soappy',
+            EXTRAS_REQUIRE['soap']
+        )
+
+    def test_extrasRequiresSerialDepsAreValid(self):
+        """
+        L{dist.EXTRA_REQUIRES} C{serial} option contains the correct
+        dependencies.
+        """
+        self.assertIn(
+            'pyserial',
+            EXTRAS_REQUIRE['serial']
+        )
+
+    def test_extrasRequiresAllNonPlatDepsAreValid(self):
+        """
+        L{dist.EXTRA_REQUIRES} C{all_non_plat} option contains the
+        correct dependencies.
+        """
+        deps = EXTRAS_REQUIRE['all_non_plat']
+        self.assertIn('twistedchecker >= 0.2.0', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pyflakes >= 0.8.1', deps)
+        self.assertIn('twisted-dev-tools >= 0.0.2', deps)
+        self.assertIn('python-subunit', deps)
+        self.assertIn('sphinx >= 1.2.2', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pydoctor >= 0.5', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pyopenssl >= 0.11', deps)
+        self.assertIn('service_identity', deps)
+        self.assertIn('gmpy', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pyasn1', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pycrypto', deps)
+        self.assertIn('soappy', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pyserial', deps)
+
+    def test_extrasRequiresOsxPlatDepsAreValid(self):
+        """
+        L{dist.EXTRA_REQUIRES} C{osx_plat} option contains the correct
+        dependecies.
+        """
+        deps = EXTRAS_REQUIRE['osx_plat']
+        self.assertIn('twistedchecker >= 0.2.0', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pyflakes >= 0.8.1', deps)
+        self.assertIn('twisted-dev-tools >= 0.0.2', deps)
+        self.assertIn('python-subunit', deps)
+        self.assertIn('sphinx >= 1.2.2', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pydoctor >= 0.5', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pyopenssl >= 0.11', deps)
+        self.assertIn('service_identity', deps)
+        self.assertIn('gmpy', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pyasn1', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pycrypto', deps)
+        self.assertIn('soappy', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pyserial', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pyobjc', deps)
+
+    def test_extrasRequiresWindowsPlatDepsAreValid(self):
+        """
+        L{dist.EXTRA_REQUIRES} C{windows_plat} option contains the correct
+        dependecies.
+        """
+        deps = EXTRAS_REQUIRE['windows_plat']
+        self.assertIn('twistedchecker >= 0.2.0', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pyflakes >= 0.8.1', deps)
+        self.assertIn('twisted-dev-tools >= 0.0.2', deps)
+        self.assertIn('python-subunit', deps)
+        self.assertIn('sphinx >= 1.2.2', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pydoctor >= 0.5', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pyopenssl >= 0.11', deps)
+        self.assertIn('service_identity', deps)
+        self.assertIn('gmpy', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pyasn1', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pycrypto', deps)
+        self.assertIn('soappy', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pyserial', deps)
+        self.assertIn('pypiwin32', deps)
+
 
 class GetExtensionsTest(TestCase):
     """
diff --git twisted/topfiles/3696.misc twisted/topfiles/3696.misc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..24d3d09
--- /dev/null
+++ twisted/topfiles/3696.misc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Optional dependencies can be installed using the extra_requires facility provided by setuptools.
\ No newline at end of file