diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 0694c5208..60ae450fa 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@ before_install:
   - npm install -g npm
   - npm install -g grunt-cli karma-cli
 
+  # install the dev packages we need
+  - ./misc/install.sh
+
   # Set up Xfvb for Firefox headless testing
   - "export DISPLAY=:99.0"
   - "sh -e /etc/init.d/xvfb start"
diff --git a/misc/check.sh b/misc/check.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..0a4650ca7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/misc/check.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# check for libcairo2
+if [ -f /usr/include/cairo/cairo.h ] || [ -f /usr/local/include/cairo/cairo.h ]; then
+  echo libcairo2 dev files found.
+  exit 0
+else
+  echo "\033[31m"libcairo2 dev files not found. Please run misc/install.sh to install the necessary packages."\033[0m" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
diff --git a/misc/install.sh b/misc/install.sh
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 814e4586a..9d3bd1da6 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@
     "test-examples": "grunt mochaTest:examples && karma start test/examples/karma.conf.js",
     "test-tcp": "grunt mochaTest:tcp",
     "publish": "grunt build",
-    "preinstall": "sh misc/install.sh"
+    "preinstall": "sh misc/check.sh"
   },
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",