diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index c0f5ba5e8d..d82a6af109 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -19,9 +19,7 @@ notifications:
         on_success: change
         on_failure: change
 
-before_install:
-    - sudo apt-get update
-    - sudo apt-get install -y libcppunit-dev
+before_install: ./build/tools/before_install.sh
 
 env:
     - wxCONFIGURE_FLAGS=
diff --git a/build/tools/before_install.sh b/build/tools/before_install.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..1fd3fe1209
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/tools/before_install.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# This script is used by Travis CI to install the dependencies before building
+# wxWidgets but can also be run by hand if necessary but currently it only
+# works for Ubuntu 12.04 and 14.04 used by Travis.
+
+SUDO=sudo
+
+case $(uname -s) in
+    Linux)
+        if [ -f /etc/apt/sources.list ]; then
+            $SUDO apt-get update
+            $SUDO apt-get install -y libcppunit-dev libgtk2.0-dev libnotify-dev
+        fi
+        ;;
+esac