diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 42066397d..05afd2dd2 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -2,3 +2,5 @@
 /output
 /bin
 __pycache__
+.python-version
+
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index be9d68442..3f3c76c1c 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,39 @@
 # There's no heavy lifting here; this file is just a convenience
 # for people whose muscle memory for building projects starts with typing `make`.
-all:
+
+.PHONY: all
+all: build-binary build-container
+
+.PHONY: clean
+clean:
+	# not sure if we should remove generated stuff
+	# keep the output directory itself
+	#-rm -rf output/*
+	rm -rf bin
+	@echo "removing test files that might be owned by root"
+	sudo rm -rf /var/tmp/bib-tests
+
+.PHONY: test
+test:
+	@echo "Be aware that the tests take a really long time"
+	@echo "Running tests as root"
+	sudo -E pip install --user -r test/requirements.txt
+	sudo -E pytest -s -v
+
+.PHONY: build-binary
+build-binary:
 	./build.sh
+
+.PHONY: build-container
+build-container:
+	sudo podman build --tag bootc-image-builder .
+
+.PHONY: push-check
+push-check: build-binary build-container test
+	cd bib; go fmt ./...
+	@if [ 0 -ne $$(git status --porcelain --untracked-files|wc -l) ]; then \
+	    echo "There should be no changed or untracked files"; \
+	    git status --porcelain --untracked-files; \
+	    exit 1; \
+	fi
+	@echo "All looks good - congratulations"