diff --git a/travis/.travis.yml.example-full b/travis/.travis.yml.example-full
index 205d59d..3485ceb 100644
--- a/travis/.travis.yml.example-full
+++ b/travis/.travis.yml.example-full
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@ script:
 # SET         source setup file
 # ADD_MODULES extra modules (for a specific job)
 # EXTRA       content will be added to make command line
+# EXTRA1..5   additional arguments for the make command
+#             (one argument per variable)
 # STATIC      set to YES for static build (default: NO)
 # TEST        set to NO to skip running the tests (default: YES)
 # VV          set to make build scripts verbose (default: unset)
diff --git a/travis/build.sh b/travis/build.sh
index f983867..b46e869 100755
--- a/travis/build.sh
+++ b/travis/build.sh
@@ -13,7 +13,15 @@ export EPICS_BASE
 [ -z "$EPICS_HOST_ARCH" -a -f $EPICS_BASE/startup/EpicsHostArch.pl ] && EPICS_HOST_ARCH=$(perl $EPICS_BASE/startup/EpicsHostArch.pl)
 export EPICS_HOST_ARCH
 
-make -j2 $EXTRA
+# use array variable to get the quoting right while using separate words for arguments
+[ -n "$EXTRA0" ] && EXTRA[0]="$EXTRA0"
+[ -n "$EXTRA1" ] && EXTRA[1]="$EXTRA1"
+[ -n "$EXTRA2" ] && EXTRA[2]="$EXTRA2"
+[ -n "$EXTRA3" ] && EXTRA[3]="$EXTRA3"
+[ -n "$EXTRA4" ] && EXTRA[4]="$EXTRA4"
+[ -n "$EXTRA5" ] && EXTRA[5]="$EXTRA5"
+
+make -j2 "${EXTRA[@]}"
 
 ret=0
 
@@ -21,7 +29,7 @@ if [ "$TEST" != "NO" ]
 then
   make tapfiles || ret=$?
 
-  make -s test-results
+  make -sk test-results
 fi
 
 exit $ret