diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index b91327d34a2..7056f54ce8c 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ before_install: ./.travis/prepare.sh
 env:
   - OPTS="--disable-ssl"
   - TESTSUITE=1 KERNEL=3.17.4
-  - KERNEL=3.17.4 DPDK=1 OPTS="--with-dpdk=./dpdk-1.7.1/build"
+  - KERNEL=3.17.4 DPDK=1
   - TESTSUITE=1 OPTS="--enable-shared"
   - KERNEL=3.17.4 DPDK=1 OPTS="--enable-shared"
   - KERNEL=3.16.7
diff --git a/.travis/build.sh b/.travis/build.sh
index 990d263c506..35709921577 100755
--- a/.travis/build.sh
+++ b/.travis/build.sh
@@ -36,9 +36,15 @@ function install_kernel()
 
 function install_dpdk()
 {
-    wget http://www.dpdk.org/browse/dpdk/snapshot/dpdk-1.7.1.tar.gz
-    tar xzvf dpdk-1.7.1.tar.gz > /dev/null
-    cd dpdk-1.7.1
+    if [ -n "$DPDK_GIT" ]; then
+	git clone $DPDK_GIT dpdk-$1
+	cd dpdk-$1
+	git checkout v$1
+    else
+        wget http://www.dpdk.org/browse/dpdk/snapshot/dpdk-$1.tar.gz
+        tar xzvf dpdk-$1.tar.gz > /dev/null
+        cd dpdk-$1
+    fi
     find ./ -type f | xargs sed -i 's/max-inline-insns-single=100/max-inline-insns-single=400/'
     sed -ri 's,(CONFIG_RTE_BUILD_COMBINE_LIBS=).*,\1y,' config/common_linuxapp
     sed -ri '/CONFIG_RTE_LIBNAME/a CONFIG_RTE_BUILD_FPIC=y' config/common_linuxapp
@@ -59,9 +65,13 @@ if [ "$KERNEL" ] || [ "$DPDK" ]; then
 fi
 
 if [ "$DPDK" ]; then
-    install_dpdk
+    if [ -z "$DPDK_VER" ]; then
+	    DPDK_VER="1.7.1"
+    fi
+    install_dpdk $DPDK_VER
     # Disregard bad function cassts until DPDK is fixed
     CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -Wno-error=bad-function-cast -Wno-error=cast-align"
+    EXTRA_OPTS+="--with-dpdk=./dpdk-$DPDK_VER/build"
 elif [ $CC != "clang" ]; then
     # DPDK headers currently trigger sparse errors
     CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -Wsparse-error"