diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index b5709d74ab..77e0759e0f 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 # Files are then pushed to sourceforge using rsync with a command like this:
 # rsync -e ssh nipype-0.1-py2.5.egg cburns,nipy@frs.sourceforge.net:/home/frs/project/n/ni/nipy/nipype/nipype-0.1/
 
+PYTHON ?= python
+NOSETESTS ?= nosetests
+
 zipdoc:
 	@echo "Clean documentation directory."
 	python setup.py clean
@@ -14,16 +17,50 @@ sdist: zipdoc
 	@echo "Building source distribution..."
 	python setup.py sdist
 	@echo "Done building source distribution."
-	# XXX copy documentation.zip to dist directory.  
+	# XXX copy documentation.zip to dist directory.
 	# XXX Somewhere the doc/_build directory is removed and causes
-        # this script to fail.
-	
+	# this script to fail.
+
 egg: zipdoc
 	@echo "Building egg..."
 	python setup.py bdist_egg
 	@echo "Done building egg."
-	
+
 upload_to_pypi: zipdoc
 	@echo "Uploading to PyPi..."
 	python setup.py sdist --formats=zip,gztar upload
 
+trailing-spaces:
+	find . -name "*.py" | xargs perl -pi -e 's/[ \t]*$$//'
+
+clean-pyc:
+	find . -name "*.pyc" | xargs rm -f
+
+clean-so:
+	find . -name "*.so" | xargs rm -f
+	find . -name "*.pyd" | xargs rm -f
+
+clean-build:
+	rm -rf build
+
+clean-ctags:
+	rm -f tags
+
+clean: clean-build clean-pyc clean-so clean-ctags
+
+in: inplace # just a shortcut
+inplace:
+	$(PYTHON) setup.py build_ext -i
+
+test-code: in
+	$(NOSETESTS) -s nipype
+test-doc:
+	$(NOSETESTS) -s --with-doctest --doctest-tests --doctest-extension=rst \
+	--doctest-fixtures=_fixture doc/
+
+test-coverage:
+	$(NOSETESTS) -s --with-coverage --cover-html --cover-html-dir=coverage \
+	--cover-package=nipype nipype
+
+test: test-code test-doc
+