diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index e9f062abb..543543f20 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ env:
     # namepart must match the folder name internal
     # to boost's .tar.gz.
     - LCOV_ROOT=$HOME/lcov
+    - GDB_ROOT=$HOME/gdb
     - BOOST_ROOT=$HOME/boost_1_60_0
     - BOOST_URL='http://sourceforge.net/projects/boost/files/boost/1.60.0/boost_1_60_0.tar.gz'
 
@@ -27,6 +28,8 @@ addons:
       - binutils-gold
       # Provides a backtrace if the unittests crash
       - gdb
+      # needed to build gdb
+      - texinfo
 
 matrix:
   include:
diff --git a/bin/ci/ubuntu/build-and-test.sh b/bin/ci/ubuntu/build-and-test.sh
index 2015b0037..fb2da3cdd 100755
--- a/bin/ci/ubuntu/build-and-test.sh
+++ b/bin/ci/ubuntu/build-and-test.sh
@@ -62,15 +62,19 @@ if [[ $TARGET == "coverage" ]]; then
   lcov --no-external -c -i -d . -o baseline.info
 fi
 
-# Execute unit tests under gdb, printing a call stack
-# if we get a crash.
-gdb -return-child-result -quiet -batch \
-    -ex "set env MALLOC_CHECK_=3" \
-    -ex "set print thread-events off" \
-    -ex run \
-    -ex "thread apply all backtrace full" \
-    -ex "quit" \
-    --args $APP_PATH $APP_ARGS
+if [[ ${TARGET} == debug ]]; then
+    # Execute unit tests under gdb, printing a call stack
+    # if we get a crash.
+    $GDB_ROOT/bin/gdb -return-child-result -quiet -batch \
+                      -ex "set env MALLOC_CHECK_=3" \
+                      -ex "set print thread-events off" \
+                      -ex run \
+                      -ex "thread apply all backtrace full" \
+                      -ex "quit" \
+                      --args $APP_PATH $APP_ARGS
+else
+    $APP_PATH $APP_ARGS
+fi
 
 if [[ $TARGET == "coverage" ]]; then
   # Create test coverage data file
diff --git a/bin/ci/ubuntu/install-dependencies.sh b/bin/ci/ubuntu/install-dependencies.sh
index 5257eaa68..84c23013c 100755
--- a/bin/ci/ubuntu/install-dependencies.sh
+++ b/bin/ci/ubuntu/install-dependencies.sh
@@ -66,3 +66,16 @@ tar xfvz lcov-1.12.tar.gz -C $HOME
 # Set install path
 mkdir -p $LCOV_ROOT
 cd $HOME/lcov-1.12 && make install PREFIX=$LCOV_ROOT
+
+if [[ ${TARGET} == debug ]]; then
+    #install gdb
+    pushd $HOME
+    wget https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gdb/gdb-8.0.tar.xz
+    tar xf gdb-8.0.tar.xz
+    pushd gdb-8.0
+    ./configure CFLAGS='-w -O2' CXXFLAGS='-std=gnu++11 -g -O2 -w' --prefix=$GDB_ROOT
+    make -j2
+    make install
+    popd
+    popd
+fi
diff --git a/circle.yml b/circle.yml
index 2080004d0..67ba0a0ba 100644
--- a/circle.yml
+++ b/circle.yml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ dependencies:
     - sudo apt-get update -qq
     - sudo apt-get purge -qq libboost1.48-dev
     - sudo apt-get install -qq libboost1.60-all-dev
-    - sudo apt-get install -qq clang-3.6 gcc-5 g++-5 libobjc-5-dev libgcc-5-dev libstdc++-5-dev libclang1-3.6 libgcc1 libgomp1 libstdc++6 scons protobuf-compiler libprotobuf-dev libssl-dev exuberant-ctags
+    - sudo apt-get install -qq clang-3.6 gcc-5 g++-5 libobjc-5-dev libgcc-5-dev libstdc++-5-dev libclang1-3.6 libgcc1 libgomp1 libstdc++6 scons protobuf-compiler libprotobuf-dev libssl-dev exuberant-ctags texinfo
     - lsb_release -a
     - sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-5 99
     - sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-5 99
@@ -16,6 +16,11 @@ dependencies:
     - gcc --version
     - clang --version
     - clang++ --version
+    - if [[ ! -e gdb-8.0 ]]; then wget https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gdb/gdb-8.0.tar.xz && tar xf gdb-8.0.tar.xz && cd gdb-8.0 && ./configure && make && cd ..; fi
+    - pushd gdb-8.0 && sudo make install && popd
+    - gdb --version
+  cache_directories:
+    - gdb-8.0
 test:
   pre:
     - scons clang.debug