diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 8101c3fba5e8..5ef481e1ae8e 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -1,30 +1,43 @@
 version: 2
 jobs:
-  build:
+  no_pic:
     working_directory: ~/dmd
     docker:
       - image: circleci/node:4.8.2
     parallelism: 2
-    branches:
-      ignore:
-        - dmd-1.x
     steps:
       - checkout
       - run:
           command: ./.circleci/run.sh install-deps
-          name: Install DMD
-      - run:
-          command: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install gdb
-          name: Install GDB
+          name: Install dependencies
       - run:
+          # needs to be a separate step, s.t. `run.sh` gets updated too
           command: ./.circleci/run.sh setup-repos
-          name: Clone DRuntime & Phobos
+          name: Merge with upstream + clone DRuntime & Phobos
       - run:
-          command: ./.circleci/run.sh coverage
-          name: Run testsuite with -cov
+          command: ./.circleci/run.sh all
+          name: Run all
+  pic:
+    working_directory: ~/dmd
+    docker:
+      # See: https://github.com/wilzbach/dlang-docker/blob/master/circleci/dlang.docker
+      - image: dlang2/dmd-circleci:2.078.0
+    steps:
+      - checkout
+      - run:
+          # this is needed to "fix" the Docker permission errors - see https://github.com/dlang/dmd/pull/7579
+          command: sudo ls -l /dlang/dmd-2.078.0/linux && sudo ls -l /dlang/dmd-2.078.0/src
+          name: Test Docker image
       - run:
-          command: ./.circleci/run.sh check-clean-git
-          name: Check for temporary files generated by the test suite
+          # needs to be a separate step, s.t. `run.sh` gets updated too
+          command: ./.circleci/run.sh setup-repos
+          name: Merge with upstream + clone DRuntime & Phobos
       - run:
-          command: ./.circleci/run.sh codecov
-          name: Upload coverage files to CodeCov
+          command: ./.circleci/run.sh all
+          name: Run all
+workflows:
+  version: 2
+  all:
+    jobs:
+      - pic
+      - no_pic
diff --git a/.circleci/run.sh b/.circleci/run.sh
index 54942e50bc60..dd83e827a6a0 100755
--- a/.circleci/run.sh
+++ b/.circleci/run.sh
@@ -6,12 +6,23 @@ HOST_DMD_VER=2.072.2 # same as in dmd/src/posix.mak
 CURL_USER_AGENT="CirleCI $(curl --version | head -n 1)"
 N=4
 CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX=${CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX:-0}
+CIRCLE_STAGE=${CIRCLE_STAGE:-pic}
 CIRCLE_PROJECT_REPONAME=${CIRCLE_PROJECT_REPONAME:-dmd}
 BUILD="debug"
-
-case $CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX in
-    0) MODEL=64 ;;
-    1) MODEL=32 ;;
+DMD=dmd
+PIC=1
+
+case $CIRCLE_STAGE in
+    pic)
+        MODEL=64
+        PIC=1
+        ;;
+    no_pic)
+        PIC=0
+        case $CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX in
+            0) MODEL=64 ;;
+            1) MODEL=32 ;;
+        esac
 esac
 
 # clone druntime and phobos
@@ -49,9 +60,11 @@ download() {
 }
 
 install_deps() {
+    sudo apt-get update --quiet=2
     if [ $MODEL -eq 32 ]; then
-        sudo apt-get update --quiet=2
-        sudo apt-get install g++-multilib --assume-yes --quiet=2
+        sudo apt-get install g++-multilib gdb --assume-yes --quiet=2
+    else
+        sudo apt-get install gdb --assume-yes --quiet=2
     fi
 
     download "https://dlang.org/install.sh" "https://nightlies.dlang.org/install.sh" "install.sh"
@@ -93,12 +106,14 @@ setup_repos() {
 coverage()
 {
     # load environment for bootstrap compiler
-    source "$(CURL_USER_AGENT=\"$CURL_USER_AGENT\" bash ~/dlang/install.sh dmd-$HOST_DMD_VER --activate)"
+    if [ -f ~/dlang/install.sh ] ; then
+        source "$(CURL_USER_AGENT=\"$CURL_USER_AGENT\" bash ~/dlang/install.sh dmd-$HOST_DMD_VER --activate)"
+    fi
 
     # build dmd, druntime, and phobos
-    make -j$N -C src -f posix.mak MODEL=$MODEL HOST_DMD=$DMD BUILD=$BUILD ENABLE_WARNINGS=1 all
-    make -j$N -C ../druntime -f posix.mak MODEL=$MODEL
-    make -j$N -C ../phobos -f posix.mak MODEL=$MODEL
+    make -j$N -C src -f posix.mak MODEL=$MODEL HOST_DMD=$DMD BUILD=$BUILD ENABLE_WARNINGS=1 PIC="$PIC" all
+    make -j$N -C ../druntime -f posix.mak MODEL=$MODEL PIC="$PIC"
+    make -j$N -C ../phobos -f posix.mak MODEL=$MODEL PIC="$PIC"
 
     # FIXME
     # Temporarily the failing long file name test has been removed
@@ -113,12 +128,12 @@ coverage()
     mkdir -p _${build_path}
     cp $build_path/dmd _${build_path}/host_dmd
     cp $build_path/dmd.conf _${build_path}
-    make -j$N -C src -f posix.mak MODEL=$MODEL HOST_DMD=../_${build_path}/host_dmd clean
-    make -j$N -C src -f posix.mak MODEL=$MODEL HOST_DMD=../_${build_path}/host_dmd ENABLE_COVERAGE=1 ENABLE_WARNINGS=1
+    make -j$N -C src -f posix.mak MODEL=$MODEL HOST_DMD=../_${build_path}/host_dmd PIC="$PIC" clean
+    make -j$N -C src -f posix.mak MODEL=$MODEL HOST_DMD=../_${build_path}/host_dmd ENABLE_COVERAGE=1 ENABLE_WARNINGS=1 PIC="$PIC"
 
     cp $build_path/dmd _${build_path}/host_dmd_cov
-    make -j1 -C src -f posix.mak MODEL=$MODEL HOST_DMD=../_${build_path}/host_dmd_cov ENABLE_COVERAGE=1 unittest
-    make -j1 -C test MODEL=$MODEL ARGS="-O -inline -release" DMD_TEST_COVERAGE=1
+    make -j1 -C src -f posix.mak MODEL=$MODEL HOST_DMD=../_${build_path}/host_dmd_cov ENABLE_COVERAGE=1 PIC="$PIC" unittest
+    make -j1 -C test MODEL=$MODEL ARGS="-O -inline -release" DMD_TEST_COVERAGE=1 PIC="$PIC"
 }
 
 # Checks that all files have been committed and no temporary, untracked files exist.
@@ -146,7 +161,15 @@ codecov()
 case $1 in
     install-deps) install_deps ;;
     setup-repos) setup_repos ;;
-    coverage) coverage ;;
-    check-clean-git) check_clean_git;;
-    codecov) codecov ;;
+    coverage) echo "removed" ;;
+    check-clean-git) echo "removed" ;;
+    codecov)
+        echo "removed - use 'all'"
+        # Fall-through is used to maintain compatibility with the existing PRs
+        ;&
+    all)
+        coverage;
+        check_clean_git;
+        codecov;
+    ;;
 esac
diff --git a/test/Makefile b/test/Makefile
index 5f1a157258a9..ddb705495cc7 100644
--- a/test/Makefile
+++ b/test/Makefile
@@ -178,6 +178,7 @@ else
     endif
     export DFLAGS
 endif
+REQUIRED_ARGS+=$(PIC_FLAG)
 
 ifeq ($(OS),osx)
     ifeq ($(MODEL),64)