diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index d7edb81d01..6451668d96 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ before_script:
   - php composer.phar install --dev --no-interaction
 script:
   - ./scripts/generate-mo --quiet
-  - ant phpunit lint
+  - PHPUNIT_ARGS=--debug ant phpunit lint
   - if [[ $TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST != "false" ]] ; then ./scripts/check-dco origin/$TRAVIS_BRANCH..FETCH_HEAD ; fi
 after_script:
   - php vendor/bin/coveralls -v
diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 7a0b38c066..f53e7a0b75 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
  <property name="source_comma_sep" value="."/>
  <property environment="env"/>
  <property name="env.PHPUNIT_XML" value="phpunit.xml.dist"/>
+ <property name="env.PHPUNIT_ARGS" value=""/>
 
  <target name="clean" description="Clean up and create artifact directories">
   <delete dir="${basedir}/build/api"/>
@@ -22,13 +23,13 @@
 
  <target name="phpunit" description="Run unit tests using PHPUnit and generates junit.xml and clover.xml">
   <exec executable="phpunit" failonerror="true">
-      <arg line="--configuration ${env.PHPUNIT_XML}"/>
+      <arg line="--configuration ${env.PHPUNIT_XML} ${env.PHPUNIT_ARGS}"/>
   </exec>
  </target>
 
  <target name="phpunit-nocoverage" description="Run unit tests using PHPUnit and generates junit.xml">
   <exec executable="phpunit" failonerror="true">
-      <arg line="--configuration phpunit.xml.nocoverage"/>
+      <arg line="--configuration phpunit.xml.nocoverage ${env.PHPUNIT_ARGS}"/>
   </exec>
  </target>