diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index ad17693a9..147cd13fe 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -3,13 +3,17 @@ language: cpp
 cache:
   pip: true
   directories:
+    - $HOME/DF-travis
     - $HOME/lua53
 addons:
   apt:
     packages: &default_packages
+      - libsdl-image1.2-dev
+      - libsdl-ttf2.0-dev
+      - libsdl1.2-dev
       - libxml-libxml-perl
       - libxml-libxslt-perl
-      - zlib1g-dev:i386
+      - zlib1g-dev
 matrix:
   include:
     - env: GCC_VERSION=4.8
@@ -19,11 +23,15 @@ matrix:
             - ubuntu-toolchain-r-test
           packages:
             - *default_packages
-            - gcc-4.8-multilib
-            - g++-4.8-multilib
+            - gcc-4.8
+            - g++-4.8
 before_install:
+- export DF_VERSION=$(sh travis/get-df-version.sh)
+- export DF_FOLDER="$HOME/DF-travis/$DF_VERSION"
 - pip install --user "sphinx==1.4" "requests[security]"
 - sh travis/build-lua.sh
+- sh travis/download-df.sh
+- echo "export DFHACK_HEADLESS=1" >> "$HOME/.dfhackrc"
 script:
 - export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/lua53/bin"
 - git tag tmp-travis-build
@@ -37,12 +45,16 @@ script:
 - python travis/script-syntax.py --ext=rb --cmd="ruby -c"
 - mkdir build-travis
 - cd build-travis
-- cmake .. -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=gcc-$GCC_VERSION -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=g++-$GCC_VERSION -DBUILD_DOCS:BOOL=ON
-- make -j3
+- cmake .. -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=gcc-$GCC_VERSION -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=g++-$GCC_VERSION -DDFHACK_BUILD_ARCH=64 -DBUILD_DOCS:BOOL=ON -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="$DF_FOLDER"
+- make -j3 install
+- mv "$DF_FOLDER"/dfhack.init-example "$DF_FOLDER"/dfhack.init
+- cd ..
+- cp travis/dfhack_travis.init "$DF_FOLDER"/
+- python travis/run-tests.py "$DF_FOLDER"
 notifications:
   email: false
-  irc:
-    channels:
-      - "chat.freenode.net#dfhack"
-    on_success: change
-    on_failure: always
+  # irc:
+  #   channels:
+  #     - "chat.freenode.net#dfhack"
+  #   on_success: change
+  #   on_failure: always
diff --git a/library/Core.cpp b/library/Core.cpp
index 5173a3ad9..58b3f85f5 100644
--- a/library/Core.cpp
+++ b/library/Core.cpp
@@ -81,6 +81,10 @@ using namespace DFHack;
 
 #include "SDL_events.h"
 
+#ifdef LINUX_BUILD
+#include <dlfcn.h>
+#endif
+
 using namespace tthread;
 using namespace df::enums;
 using df::global::init;
@@ -1638,7 +1642,24 @@ bool Core::Init()
     cerr << "Initializing Console.\n";
     // init the console.
     bool is_text_mode = (init && init->display.flag.is_set(init_display_flags::TEXT));
-    if (is_text_mode || getenv("DFHACK_DISABLE_CONSOLE"))
+    bool is_headless = bool(getenv("DFHACK_HEADLESS"));
+    if (is_headless)
+    {
+#ifdef LINUX_BUILD
+        auto endwin = (int(*)(void))dlsym(RTLD_DEFAULT, "endwin");
+        if (endwin)
+        {
+            endwin();
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            cerr << "endwin(): bind failed" << endl;
+        }
+#else
+        cerr << "Headless mode not supported on Windows" << endl;
+#endif
+    }
+    if ((is_text_mode && !is_headless) || getenv("DFHACK_DISABLE_CONSOLE"))
     {
         con.init(true);
         cerr << "Console is not available. Use dfhack-run to send commands.\n";
@@ -1718,7 +1739,7 @@ bool Core::Init()
     HotkeyMutex = new mutex();
     HotkeyCond = new condition_variable();
 
-    if (!is_text_mode)
+    if (!is_text_mode || is_headless)
     {
         cerr << "Starting IO thread.\n";
         // create IO thread
diff --git a/library/Hooks-linux.cpp b/library/Hooks-linux.cpp
index b0bf5a781..8291bf899 100644
--- a/library/Hooks-linux.cpp
+++ b/library/Hooks-linux.cpp
@@ -88,6 +88,10 @@ DFhackCExport int SDL_PollEvent(SDL::Event* event)
 struct WINDOW;
 DFhackCExport int wgetch(WINDOW *win)
 {
+    if (getenv("DFHACK_HEADLESS"))
+    {
+        return 0;
+    }
     static int (*_wgetch)(WINDOW * win) = (int (*)( WINDOW * )) dlsym(RTLD_NEXT, "wgetch");
     if(!_wgetch)
     {
diff --git a/test/main.lua b/test/main.lua
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0085a9711
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/main.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+function set_test_stage(stage)
+    local f = io.open('test_stage.txt', 'w')
+    f:write(stage)
+    f:close()
+end
+
+print('running tests')
+
+set_test_stage('done')
+dfhack.run_command('die')
diff --git a/travis/dfhack_travis.init b/travis/dfhack_travis.init
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d9bc3e5ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/travis/dfhack_travis.init
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+:lua dfhack.internal.addScriptPath(os.getenv('TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR'))
+test/main
diff --git a/travis/download-df.sh b/travis/download-df.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..20dc3dbd4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/travis/download-df.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+tardest="df.tar.bz2"
+
+which md5sum && alias md5=md5sum
+selfmd5=$(openssl md5 < "$0")
+echo $selfmd5
+
+cd "$(dirname "$0")"
+echo "DF_VERSION: $DF_VERSION"
+echo "DF_FOLDER: $DF_FOLDER"
+mkdir -p "$DF_FOLDER"
+cd "$DF_FOLDER"
+
+if [ -f receipt ]; then
+    if [ "$selfmd5" != "$(cat receipt)" ]; then
+        echo "download-df.sh changed; removing DF"
+    else
+        echo "Already downloaded $DF_VERSION"
+        exit 0
+    fi
+fi
+
+rm -rif "$tardest" df_linux
+
+minor=$(echo "$DF_VERSION" | cut -d. -f2)
+patch=$(echo "$DF_VERSION" | cut -d. -f3)
+url="http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/df_${minor}_${patch}_linux.tar.bz2"
+
+echo Downloading
+wget "$url" -O "$tardest"
+echo Extracting
+tar xf "$tardest" --strip-components=1
+echo Changing settings
+echo '' >> "$DF_FOLDER/data/init/init.txt"
+echo '[PRINT_MODE:TEXT]' >> "$DF_FOLDER/data/init/init.txt"
+echo '[SOUND:NO]' >> "$DF_FOLDER/data/init/init.txt"
+echo Done
+
+echo "$selfmd5" > receipt
diff --git a/travis/get-df-version.sh b/travis/get-df-version.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..13d317d2e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/travis/get-df-version.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+cd "$(dirname "$0")"
+cd ..
+grep DF_VERSION CMakeLists.txt | perl -ne 'print "$&\n" if /[\d\.]+/'
diff --git a/travis/run-tests.py b/travis/run-tests.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a8265088c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/travis/run-tests.py
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+import os, subprocess, sys
+
+MAX_TRIES = 5
+
+dfhack = 'Dwarf Fortress.exe' if sys.platform == 'win32' else './dfhack'
+test_stage = 'test_stage.txt'
+
+def get_test_stage():
+    if os.path.isfile(test_stage):
+        return open(test_stage).read().strip()
+    return '0'
+
+os.chdir(sys.argv[1])
+if os.path.exists(test_stage):
+    os.remove(test_stage)
+
+tries = 0
+while True:
+    tries += 1
+    stage = get_test_stage()
+    print('Run #%i: stage=%s' % (tries, get_test_stage()))
+    if stage == 'done':
+        print('Done!')
+        os.remove(test_stage)
+        sys.exit(0)
+    if tries > MAX_TRIES:
+        print('Too many tries - aborting')
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+    os.system(dfhack)