diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 03bc7fb945..ecaf43c4b5 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ env:
 before_script:
   - sh -c "if [ '$DB' = 'postgres' ]; then psql -c 'DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS phpbb_tests;' -U postgres; fi"
   - sh -c "if [ '$DB' = 'postgres' ]; then psql -c 'create database phpbb_tests;' -U postgres; fi"
+  - sh -c "if [ '$DB' = 'mariadb' ]; then travis/setup-mariadb.sh; fi"
   - sh -c "if [ '$DB' = 'mysql' -o '$DB' = 'mariadb' ]; then mysql -e 'create database IF NOT EXISTS phpbb_tests;'; fi"
   - sh -c "if [ '$TRAVIS_PHP_VERSION' = '5.2' ]; then pear install --force phpunit/DbUnit; phpenv rehash; fi"
   - cd phpBB
diff --git a/travis/setup-mariadb.sh b/travis/setup-mariadb.sh
index 2e974da8eb..02520b1c2c 100755
--- a/travis/setup-mariadb.sh
+++ b/travis/setup-mariadb.sh
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ VERSION='5.5'
 # Operating system codename, e.g. "precise"
 OS_CODENAME=$(lsb_release --codename --short)
 
+# Manually purge MySQL to remove conflicting files (e.g. /etc/mysql/my.cnf)
+sudo apt-get purge -qq mysql-common
+
 if ! which add-apt-repository > /dev/null
 then
 	sudo apt-get update -qq
@@ -31,3 +34,5 @@ USE mysql;
 UPDATE user SET Password = PASSWORD('') where User = 'root';
 FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
 " | mysql -u root -prootpasswd
+
+mysql --version