diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 73db5f76c5..69b0d20f96 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ os:
   - osx
 sudo: false
 cache: ccache
+matrix:
+  include:
+    - os: linux
+      env: LINTER_ONLY=true
 before_install:
   - export HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1 # work around https://github.com/travis-ci/travis-ci/issues/7456
   - if [ $TRAVIS_OS_NAME = osx ]; then brew install ccache; fi
@@ -17,5 +21,4 @@ install:
   - ./configure
   - make -j2 V=
 script:
-  - make -j2 test-ci
-  - make lint
+  - tools/run-ci.sh # do linter env variable detection
diff --git a/tools/run-ci.sh b/tools/run-ci.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..85013f98f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/run-ci.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -ev
+
+# always change the working directory to the project's root directory
+cd $(dirname $0)/..
+
+if [ "${LINTER_ONLY}" = "true" ]; then
+  make lint
+else
+  make -j2 test-ci
+fi