diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 955e71fe8..5be45a5df 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 sudo: false
 language: python
+cache: pip
 python:
   - 2.7
   - 3.3
@@ -10,9 +11,13 @@ os:
   - linux
 install:
   - pip install tox-travis
+jobs:
+  include:
+    - stage: release-test
+      script: RELEASE_SKIP=head ./release-test.sh
 script: tox
 branches:
   only:
     - master
 notifications:
-  email: false
\ No newline at end of file
+  email: false
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 9a3939a91..a184229d6 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ install: FORCE
 dist: dist/${MODULE}-$(VERSION).tar.gz
 
 dist/${MODULE}-$(VERSION).tar.gz: $(SOURCES)
-	./setup.py sdist
+	./setup.py sdist bdist_wheel
 
 ## clean       : clean up all temporary / machine-generated files
 clean: FORCE
diff --git a/release-test.sh b/release-test.sh
index 44074e757..cdc22dad0 100755
--- a/release-test.sh
+++ b/release-test.sh
@@ -11,25 +11,29 @@ pipver=7.0.2 # minimum required version of pip
 
 rm -Rf testenv? || /bin/true
 
-export HEAD=`git rev-parse HEAD`
-virtualenv testenv1
+export HEAD=${TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST_SHA:-$(git rev-parse HEAD)}
+
+if [ "${RELEASE_SKIP}" != "head" ]
+then
+	virtualenv testenv1
+	# First we test the head
+	source testenv1/bin/activate
+	rm testenv1/lib/python-wheels/setuptools* \
+		&& pip install --force-reinstall -U pip==${pipver} \
+	        && pip install setuptools==20.10.1 wheel
+	make install-dep
+	make test
+	pip uninstall -y ${package} || true; pip uninstall -y ${package} || true; make install
+	mkdir testenv1/not-${module}
+	# if there is a subdir named '${module}' py.test will execute tests
+	# there instead of the installed module's tests
+	pushd testenv1/not-${module}; ../bin/${run_tests}; popd
+fi
+
 virtualenv testenv2
 virtualenv testenv3
 virtualenv testenv4
 
-# First we test the head
-source testenv1/bin/activate
-rm testenv1/lib/python-wheels/setuptools* \
-	&& pip install --force-reinstall -U pip==${pipver} \
-        && pip install setuptools==20.10.1 wheel
-make install-dep
-make test
-pip uninstall -y ${package} || true; pip uninstall -y ${package} || true; make install
-mkdir testenv1/not-${module}
-# if there is a subdir named '${module}' py.test will execute tests
-# there instead of the installed module's tests
-pushd testenv1/not-${module}; ../bin/${run_tests}; popd
-
 
 # Secondly we test via pip