diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 454265cad..6e6666711 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ env:
    - CCACHE_TEMPDIR=/tmp/.ccache-temp
    - CCACHE_COMPRESS=1
    - HEAVY_JOBS="2"
+   - PREFIX=/tmp/mapnik
    - secure: "N3a5nzzsgpuu45k8qWdYsHNxrSnqeAGLTOYpfYoAH7B94vuf7pa7XV1tQjXbxrnx2D6ryTdtUtyRKwy7zXbwXxGt4DpczWEo8f6DUd6+obAp3kdnXABg2Sj4oA7KMs0F0CmoADy0jdUZD5YyOJHu64LCIIgzEQ9q49PFMNbU3IE="
    - secure: "iQYPNpMtejcgYeUkWZGIWz1msIco5qydJrhZTSCQOYahAQerdT7q5WZEpEo3G6IWOGgO1eo7GFuY8DvqQjw1+jC9b9mhkRNdo3LhGTKS9Gsbl5Q27k0rjlaFZmmQHrfPlQJwhfAIp+KLugHtQw5bCoLh+95E3j0F0DayF1tuJ3s="
 addons:
@@ -45,7 +46,7 @@ matrix:
 before_install:
  - source scripts/travis-common.sh
  - export PYTHONUSERBASE=$(pwd)/mason_packages/.link
- - export PATH=$(pwd)/mason_packages/.link/bin:${PYTHONUSERBASE}/bin:${PATH}
+ - export PATH=${PREFIX}/bin:$(pwd)/mason_packages/.link/bin:${PYTHONUSERBASE}/bin:${PATH}
  - export COVERAGE=${COVERAGE:-false}
  - export MASON_PUBLISH=${MASON_PUBLISH:-false}
  - export BENCH=${BENCH:-false}
diff --git a/mason_latest.sh b/mason_latest.sh
index 03cc5b2ad..899f3daf0 100755
--- a/mason_latest.sh
+++ b/mason_latest.sh
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ function mason_compile {
     # this is to adapt to when mapnik is not installed in MASON_PREFIX
     # originally (to make it easier to publish locally as a stopgap)
     MAPNIK_PREFIX=$(mapnik-config --prefix)
-    if [[ $(mapnik-config --prefix) != ${MASON_PREFIX} ]]; then
+    if [[ ${MAPNIK_PREFIX} != ${MASON_PREFIX} ]]; then
         mkdir -p ${MASON_PREFIX}/lib
         mkdir -p ${MASON_PREFIX}/include
         mkdir -p ${MASON_PREFIX}/bin
diff --git a/scripts/travis-common.sh b/scripts/travis-common.sh
index 9a9ec01d3..a6953b65a 100644
--- a/scripts/travis-common.sh
+++ b/scripts/travis-common.sh
@@ -81,10 +81,10 @@ config_override () {
 
 configure () {
     if enabled ${COVERAGE}; then
-        ./configure "$@" PGSQL2SQLITE=False SVG2PNG=False SVG_RENDERER=False \
+        ./configure "$@" PREFIX=${PREFIX} PGSQL2SQLITE=False SVG2PNG=False SVG_RENDERER=False \
             COVERAGE=True DEBUG=True WARNING_CXXFLAGS="-Wno-unknown-warning-option"
     else
-        ./configure "$@" PREFIX=/tmp/mapnik WARNING_CXXFLAGS="-Wno-unknown-warning-option"
+        ./configure "$@" PREFIX=${PREFIX} WARNING_CXXFLAGS="-Wno-unknown-warning-option"
     fi
     # print final config values, sorted and indented
     sort -sk1,1 ./config.py | sed -e 's/^/	/'