diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8b57f413
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+language: c
+dist: trusty
+sudo: required
+
+env:
+  - ci_distro=ubuntu ci_suite=trusty
+  - ci_docker=debian:jessie ci_distro=debian ci_suite=jessie
+  - ci_docker=debian:unstable ci_distro=debian ci_suite=unstable
+  - ci_docker=ubuntu:xenial ci_distro=ubuntu ci_suite=xenial
+
+script:
+  - tests/ci-install.sh
+  - ci_parallel=2 ci_sudo=yes tests/ci-build.sh
diff --git a/tests/ci-Dockerfile.in b/tests/ci-Dockerfile.in
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0b56b431
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ci-Dockerfile.in
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+FROM @ci_docker@
+ENV container docker
+
+ADD tests/ci-install.sh /ci-install.sh
+RUN ci_suite="@ci_suite@" ci_distro="@ci_distro@" ci_in_docker=yes /ci-install.sh
+
+ADD . /home/user/ostree
+RUN chown -R user:user /home/user/ostree
+WORKDIR /home/user/ostree
+USER user
diff --git a/tests/ci-build.sh b/tests/ci-build.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..4aaa47af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ci-build.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -euo pipefail
+set -x
+
+NULL=
+: "${ci_docker:=}"
+: "${ci_parallel:=1}"
+: "${ci_sudo:=no}"
+: "${ci_test:=yes}"
+: "${ci_test_fatal:=yes}"
+
+if [ -n "$ci_docker" ]; then
+    exec docker run \
+        --env=ci_docker="" \
+        --env=ci_parallel="${ci_parallel}" \
+        --env=ci_sudo=yes \
+        --env=ci_test="${ci_test}" \
+        --env=ci_test_fatal="${ci_test_fatal}" \
+        --privileged \
+        ostree-ci \
+        tests/ci-build.sh
+fi
+
+NOCONFIGURE=1 ./autogen.sh
+
+srcdir="$(pwd)"
+mkdir ci-build
+cd ci-build
+
+make="make -j${ci_parallel} V=1 VERBOSE=1"
+
+../configure \
+    --enable-always-build-tests \
+    --enable-installed-tests \
+    "$@"
+
+${make}
+
+maybe_fail_tests () {
+    if [ "$ci_test_fatal" = yes ]; then
+        exit 1
+    fi
+}
+
+[ "$ci_test" = no ] || ${make} check || maybe_fail_tests
+# TODO: if ostree aims to support distcheck, run that too
+
+${make} install DESTDIR=$(pwd)/DESTDIR
+
+( cd DESTDIR && find . )
+
+if [ -n "$ci_sudo" ] && [ -n "$ci_test" ]; then
+    sudo ${make} install
+    env \
+        LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib \
+        GI_TYPELIB_PATH=/usr/local/lib/girepository-1.0 \
+        ${make} installcheck || \
+    maybe_fail_tests
+    env \
+        LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib \
+        GI_TYPELIB_PATH=/usr/local/lib/girepository-1.0 \
+        gnome-desktop-testing-runner -d /usr/local/share ostree/ || \
+    maybe_fail_tests
+fi
+
+# vim:set sw=4 sts=4 et:
diff --git a/tests/ci-install.sh b/tests/ci-install.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..ecd03b58
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ci-install.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -euo pipefail
+set -x
+
+NULL=
+: "${ci_docker:=}"
+: "${ci_in_docker:=}"
+: "${ci_suite:=jessie}"
+
+if [ $(id -u) = 0 ]; then
+    sudo=
+else
+    sudo=sudo
+fi
+
+if [ -n "$ci_docker" ]; then
+    sed \
+        -e "s/@ci_distro@/${ci_distro}/" \
+        -e "s/@ci_docker@/${ci_docker}/" \
+        -e "s/@ci_suite@/${ci_suite}/" \
+        < tests/ci-Dockerfile.in > Dockerfile
+    exec docker build -t ostree-ci .
+fi
+
+case "$ci_distro" in
+    (debian)
+        # Docker images use httpredir.debian.org but it seems to be
+        # unreliable; use a CDN instead
+        sed -i -e 's/httpredir\.debian\.org/deb.debian.org/g' /etc/apt/sources.list
+        ;;
+esac
+
+case "$ci_suite" in
+    (jessie)
+        # Add alexl's Debian 8 backport repository to get libgsystem
+        # TODO: remove this when libgsystem is no longer needed
+        $sudo apt-get -y update
+        $sudo apt-get -y install apt-transport-https wget
+        wget -O - https://sdk.gnome.org/apt/debian/conf/alexl.gpg.key | $sudo apt-key add -
+        echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://sdk.gnome.org/apt/debian/ jessie main" | $sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/flatpak.list
+        ;;
+
+    (trusty|xenial)
+        # Add alexl's Flatpak PPA, again to get libgsystem
+        # TODO: remove this when libgsystem is no longer needed
+        $sudo apt-get -y update
+        $sudo apt-get -y install software-properties-common
+        $sudo add-apt-repository --yes ppa:alexlarsson/flatpak
+        ;;
+esac
+
+case "$ci_distro" in
+    (debian|ubuntu)
+        # TODO: fetch this list from the Debian packaging git repository?
+        $sudo apt-get -y update
+        $sudo apt-get -y install \
+            attr \
+            bison \
+            cpio \
+            debhelper \
+            dh-autoreconf \
+            dh-systemd \
+            docbook-xml \
+            docbook-xsl \
+            e2fslibs-dev \
+            elfutils \
+            fuse \
+            gjs \
+            gnome-desktop-testing \
+            gobject-introspection \
+            gtk-doc-tools \
+            libarchive-dev \
+            libattr1-dev \
+            libcap-dev \
+            libfuse-dev \
+            libgirepository1.0-dev \
+            libglib2.0-dev \
+            libgpgme11-dev \
+            libgsystem-dev \
+            liblzma-dev \
+            libmount-dev \
+            libselinux1-dev \
+            libsoup2.4-dev \
+            procps \
+            zlib1g-dev \
+            ${NULL}
+
+        if [ -n "$ci_in_docker" ]; then
+            # Add the user that we will use to do the build inside the
+            # Docker container, and let them use sudo
+            adduser --disabled-password user </dev/null
+            apt-get -y install sudo systemd-sysv
+            echo "user ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL" > /etc/sudoers.d/nopasswd
+            chmod 0440 /etc/sudoers.d/nopasswd
+        fi
+        ;;
+
+    (*)
+        echo "Don't know how to set up ${ci_distro}" >&2
+        exit 1
+        ;;
+esac
+
+# vim:set sw=4 sts=4 et: