diff --git a/.travis/build-deploy.sh b/.travis/build-deploy.sh
index 3aae065995..757a5a8c7d 100644
--- a/.travis/build-deploy.sh
+++ b/.travis/build-deploy.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-set -ev
+set -e
 
 source .travis/common-functions.sh
 
@@ -8,18 +8,20 @@ echo "Building PMD ${VERSION} on branch ${TRAVIS_BRANCH}"
 
 if [ travis_isPullRequest ]; then
 
+    echo "This is a pull-request build"
     ./mvnw verify -B -V
 
 elif [ travis_isPush ]; then
 
     if [[ "$VERSION" != *-SNAPSHOT && "$TRAVIS_TAG" != "" ]]; then
-        # release build
+        echo "This is a release build for tag $TRAVIS_TAG"
         ./mvnw deploy -Possrh,pmd-release -B -V
     elif [[ "$VERSION" == *-SNAPSHOT ]]; then
-        # snapshot build
+        echo "This is a snapshot build"
         ./mvnw deploy -Possrh -B -V
     else
         # other build. Can happen during release: the commit with a non snapshot version is built, but not from the tag.
+        echo "This is some other build, probably during release: commit with a non-snapshot version on branch master..."
         ./mvnw verify -Possrh -B -V
         # we stop here - no need to execute further steps
         exit 0
diff --git a/.travis/build-site.sh b/.travis/build-site.sh
index 33c1827e7b..15d1e5d815 100644
--- a/.travis/build-site.sh
+++ b/.travis/build-site.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-set -ev
+set -e
 
 source .travis/common-functions.sh
 
diff --git a/.travis/build-sonar.sh b/.travis/build-sonar.sh
index a82bff0db2..984a8532bf 100644
--- a/.travis/build-sonar.sh
+++ b/.travis/build-sonar.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-set -ev
+set -e
 
 source .travis/common-functions.sh
 
diff --git a/.travis/common-functions.sh b/.travis/common-functions.sh
index 16daac2392..7c4c6b616b 100644
--- a/.travis/common-functions.sh
+++ b/.travis/common-functions.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,16 @@
 #!/bin/bash
+set -e
+
+
+echo "TRAVIS_REPO_SLUG: $TRAVIS_REPO_SLUG"
+echo "TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST_SLUG: $TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST_SLUG"
+echo "TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST_BRANCH: $TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST_BRANCH"
+echo "TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST: $TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST"
+echo "TRAVIS_SECURE_ENV_VARS: $TRAVIS_SECURE_ENV_VARS"
+echo "TRAVIS_BRANCH: $TRAVIS_BRANCH"
+echo "TRAVIS_TAG: $TRAVIS_TAG"
+echo "TRAVIS_ALLOW_FAILURE: $TRAVIS_ALLOW_FAILURE"
+
 
 function travis_isPullRequest() {
     if [ "$TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST" != "false" ]; then
diff --git a/.travis/configure-maven.sh b/.travis/configure-maven.sh
index b69981a32c..3a227c5c9e 100644
--- a/.travis/configure-maven.sh
+++ b/.travis/configure-maven.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-set -ev
+set -e
 
 echo "MAVEN_OPTS='-Xms1g -Xmx1g'" > $HOME/.mavenrc
 mkdir -p .m2
diff --git a/.travis/release.sh b/.travis/release.sh
index 30ad12ce26..fc5c02be41 100644
--- a/.travis/release.sh
+++ b/.travis/release.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-set -ev
+set -e
 
 RELEASE_VERSION=$(./mvnw -q -Dexec.executable="echo" -Dexec.args='${project.version}' --non-recursive org.codehaus.mojo:exec-maven-plugin:1.5.0:exec | tail -1)
 
diff --git a/.travis/setup-secrets.sh b/.travis/setup-secrets.sh
index c1daea69bf..a52143ea77 100644
--- a/.travis/setup-secrets.sh
+++ b/.travis/setup-secrets.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-set -ev
+set -e
 
 if [ "$TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST" != "false" ] || [ "${TRAVIS_SECURE_ENV_VARS}" != "true" ]; then
     echo "Not setting up secrets (TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST=${TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST} TRAVIS_SECURE_ENV_VARS=${TRAVIS_SECURE_ENV_VARS})."