diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..57f68df9ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+language: c
+matrix:
+  include:
+    - os: osx
+      env: TARGET_MACHINE=i3osx
+    - os: osx
+      env: TARGET_MACHINE=ti3osx
+    - os: osx
+      env: TARGET_MACHINE=a6osx
+    - os: osx
+      env: TARGET_MACHINE=ta6osx
+    - os: linux
+      env: TARGET_MACHINE=i3le
+    - os: linux
+      env: TARGET_MACHINE=ti3le
+    - os: linux
+      env: TARGET_MACHINE=a6le
+    - os: linux
+      env: TARGET_MACHINE=ta6le
+dist: trusty
+addons:
+  apt:
+    packages:
+      - gcc-multilib
+      - lib32ncurses5-dev
+      - libx32ncurses5-dev
+script:
+  - ./configure -m=$TARGET_MACHINE && make && ( cd ${TARGET_MACHINE}/mats && make partialx 2>&1 ) | tee Make.out | grep '^matting '
diff --git a/LOG b/LOG
index 204a245893..b06f9799c0 100644
--- a/LOG
+++ b/LOG
@@ -352,6 +352,16 @@
     foreign.ms
 - added a missing quote mark in new printf mat Windows case
     foreign.ms
+- added travis-ci automation script and a 'partialx' testing target to
+  allow us to perform more than a single run of testing without running
+  afoul of travis-ci's 50-minute build timeout.  'partialx' tests six
+  of the twelve configurations tested by 'allx'.
+     .travis.yml (new),
+     mats/Mf-base
+- paired the 'partialx' down to just four test configurations, with one
+  interpreter run, to try to get the threaded builds into line with
+  travis-ci's timeout.
+     mats/Mf-base
 - eliminated some direct assumptions that a vector's type/length field
   is a fixnum and added meta-asserts to verify that it is in a couple of
   others, to facilitate future changes to vector typing.  vectors are
diff --git a/mats/Mf-base b/mats/Mf-base
index 3a74048221..44726efe49 100644
--- a/mats/Mf-base
+++ b/mats/Mf-base
@@ -203,6 +203,12 @@ fastreport:
 	$(MAKE) doerrors
 	$(MAKE) doreport
 
+partialx:
+	$(MAKE) allxhelp o=0
+	$(MAKE) allxhelp o=3
+	$(MAKE) allxhelp o=3 cp0=t
+	$(MAKE) allxhelp o=3 eval=interpret cp0=t rmg=2
+
 allx: prettyclean
 	$(MAKE) allxhelp o=0
 	$(MAKE) allxhelp o=3