diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index cc4fed27fd..53074f1253 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
 sudo: false
 language: java
 install: true
+
+# use 'install' so smoke-tests will work
+# use '-Pextra-tests' to ensure extra-tests compiles even though they won't actually run
 script: mvn -Pfast-tests -Pextra-tests -B install
+
 cache:
   directories:
   - $HOME/.m2