diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 93838bf0f8..848a2714ef 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -94,7 +94,8 @@ before_script:
   - mkdir -p ${BUILD_DIR} && cd ${BUILD_DIR}
   - ${SRC_DIR}/configure ${BASE_CONFIG} ${CONFIG} || { cat config.log && exit 1; }
 script:
-  - make -j3 && travis_retry ${TEST_CMD}
+  - BUILD_RC=0 && make -j3 || BUILD_RC=$?
+  - if [ "$BUILD_RC" -eq 0 ] ; then travis_retry ${TEST_CMD} ; else $(exit $BUILD_RC); fi
 after_script:
   - if command -v ccache ; then ccache --show-stats ; fi