diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 3e31f84d9..59ef0053a 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@ matrix:
   exclude:
     - compiler: clang
       env: CXXFLAGS="-O3 -march=native -mtune=native" SRCDIR=build CHECK_KERNEL=yes
+# kernel check can time out during travis rush hour, so make failure of it less grave...
+  allow_failures:
+    - env: CXXFLAGS="-O3 -march=native -mtune=native" SRCDIR=build CHECK_KERNEL=yes
 
 before_install:
 # install needed deps
@@ -41,7 +44,10 @@ script:
   - make -j4
 # building gui generates some more files that cppcheck can check, so check the repo *after* building gui
   - cd ../
-  - ./cppcheck --error-exitcode=1 -Ilib --enable=style --suppressions-list=.travis_suppressions .
+# use same hack as for kernel to work around cppchecks broken exit status with -j 2 ; create file, tee everything to the file and stdout, grep for errors in the file
+  - touch /tmp/cppcheck.cppcheck
+  - ./cppcheck --error-exitcode=1 -Ilib --enable=style --suppressions-list=.travis_suppressions . -j 2 |& tee /tmp/cppcheck.cppcheck
+  - sh -c "! grep "^\[" /tmp/cppcheck.cppcheck"
   - cd ./gui
 # clean rebuild
   - git clean -dfx .