diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 9ed7a045..e3cdfe02 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,22 +1,45 @@
+# General set up
 language: cpp
+cache: apt
+notifications:
+ email: false
+
+# Build matrix set up
 compiler:
  - gcc
- - clang
-cache: apt
-before_install:
- - sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:beineri/opt-qt532
- - sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:kalakris/cmake
- - sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test
- - sudo apt-get update -qq
+# - clang
+os:
+ - linux
+# - osx
+env:
+ - QT_VERSION=5.4.1 # latest stable
+# - QT_VERSION=5.5-beta # latest
+matrix:
+  exclude:
+    # only use clang on OS X
+    - os: osx
+      compiler: gcc
+    # only use the qt available from homebrew
+    - os: osx
+      env: QT_VERSION=5.4.1
+    - os: osx
+      env: QT_VERSION=5.5-beta
+
+  allow_failures:
+    # Qt 5.5 is not yet released and is therefore allowed to fail
+    - env: QT_VERSION=5.5-beta
+
+# Install dependencies
 install:
- - sudo apt-get install -y -qq cmake qt53base qt53svg qt53tools qt53x11extras qt53webkit
- - sudo apt-get install -y -qq g++-4.8
- - if [ "$CXX" = "g++" ]; then export CXX="g++-4.8" CC="gcc-4.8"; fi
+ - source travis/prepare.sh # installs qt and cmake. need to source because some env vars are set from there
+
+# Actual work
 before_script:
  - mkdir build
  - cd build
- - cmake -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/opt/qt53/lib/cmake ..
+ - cmake -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=$CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH ..
 script:
  - make -j4 && make test ARGS="-V"
+
 notifications:
  email: false
diff --git a/travis/prepare.sh b/travis/prepare.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1916f2d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/travis/prepare.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+set -e
+
+if [ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" = "linux" ]
+then
+	QT_WITHOUT_DOTS=qt$(echo $QT_VERSION | grep -oP "[^\.]*" | tr -d '\n' | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower]')
+	QT_PKG_PREFIX=$(echo $QT_WITHOUT_DOTS | cut -c1-4)
+	echo $QT_WITHOUT_DOTS
+	echo $QT_PKG_PREFIX
+	sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:beineri/opt-${QT_WITHOUT_DOTS}
+	sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test # for a recent GCC
+	sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://llvm.org/apt/precise/ llvm-toolchain-precise-3.5 main"
+
+	sudo apt-get update -qq
+	sudo apt-get install ${QT_PKG_PREFIX}base ${QT_PKG_PREFIX}svg ${QT_PKG_PREFIX}tools ${QT_PKG_PREFIX}x11extras ${QT_PKG_PREFIX}webkit
+
+	sudo mkdir -p /opt/cmake-3/
+	wget http://www.cmake.org/files/v3.2/cmake-3.2.2-Linux-x86_64.sh
+	sudo sh cmake-3.2.2-Linux-x86_64.sh --skip-license --prefix=/opt/cmake-3/
+
+	export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/opt/$QT_PKG_PREFIX/lib/cmake
+	export PATH=/opt/cmake-3/bin:/opt/$QT_PKG_PREFIX/bin:$PATH
+
+	if [ "$CXX" = "g++" ]; then
+		sudo apt-get install -y -qq g++-5
+		export CXX='g++-5' CC='gcc-5'
+	fi
+	if [ "$CXX" = "clang++" ]; then
+		wget -O - http://llvm.org/apt/llvm-snapshot.gpg.key|sudo apt-key add -
+		sudo apt-get install -y -qq clang-3.5 liblldb-3.5 libclang1-3.5 libllvm3.5 lldb-3.5 llvm-3.5 llvm-3.5-runtime
+		export CXX='clang++-3.5' CC='clang-3.5'
+	fi
+else
+	brew update
+	brew install qt5
+	brew install cmake
+	export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/usr/local/lib/cmake
+fi
+
+# Output versions
+cmake -version
+qmake -version
+$CXX -v