diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 6a6c03587..e47003b7d 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -96,10 +96,8 @@ script:
  # to ensure that slow builds still upload their
  # ccache results and therefore should be faster
  # for the next build
- - DURATION=1500
- - start=$(date +%s)
- - deadline=$(( $start + $DURATION * 60 - 10 * 60 ))
- - scripts/travis-command-wrapper.py -s "date;ps aux | grep clang" -i 60 --deadline=$deadline make
+ - DURATION=500
+ - scripts/travis-command-wrapper.py -s "date;ps aux | grep clang" -i 60 --deadline=$(( $(date +%s) + ${DURATION} )) make
  - make test
  - enabled ${COVERAGE} coverage
  - enabled ${BENCH} make bench
diff --git a/scripts/travis-command-wrapper.py b/scripts/travis-command-wrapper.py
index eb7a794ab..2fdf8dc88 100755
--- a/scripts/travis-command-wrapper.py
+++ b/scripts/travis-command-wrapper.py
@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@ def check_deadline(now):
     if options.deadline > 0 and options.deadline < now:
         print "\n\n*** travis-cmd-wrapper: deadline reached, shutting down ***\n\n"
         sys.exit(1)
+    else:
+        print "deadline not reached: %s > %s" % (options.deadline,now)
 
 # Set up status alarm. When we have a deadline, we need to check more often
 # and/or sooner. Sending a SIGALRM manually will also trigger a status report