@@ -11,8 +11,10 @@ install:
   - git submodule update --init --recursive
   - git fetch --tags
   - pip install coveralls
+
   # for now we have to make sure there is a master branch - at some point we should just have it by default
   - git branch master 0.3
+
   # generate some reflog as git-python tests need it
   - git reset --hard HEAD~1
   - git reset --hard HEAD~1
@@ -21,8 +23,13 @@ install:
   - git checkout master
   - git reset --hard HEAD~1
   - git reset --hard HEAD~1
+  - git reset --hard HEAD~1
   - git reset --hard origin/0.3
   - git checkout 0.3
+
+  # as commits are performed with the default user, it needs to be set for travis too
+  - git config --global user.email "travis@ci.com"
+  - git config --global user.name "Travis Runner"
 script: 
   - nosetests -v --with-coverage
 after_success:
 
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 import sys
 from git import Repo, Remote, GitCommandError, Git
 from unittest import TestCase
+import time
 import tempfile
 import shutil
 import cStringIO
@@ -191,6 +192,8 @@ def remote_repo_creator(self):
             # On windows, this will fail ... we deal with failures anyway and default to telling the user to do it
             try:
                 gd = Git().daemon(temp_dir, as_process=True)
+                # yes, I know ... fortunately, this is always going to work if sleep time is just large enough
+                time.sleep(0.5)
             except Exception as err:
                 gd = None
             # end 
 
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 """Contains library functions"""
 import os
 from git.test.lib import *
+from gitdb.test.lib import skip_on_travis_ci
 import shutil
 import tempfile
 import logging
@@ -36,11 +37,11 @@ class TestBigRepoR(TestBase):
     """
 
     #{ Invariants
-    head_sha_2k = '235d521da60e4699e5bd59ac658b5b48bd76ddca'
-    head_sha_50 = '32347c375250fd470973a5d76185cac718955fd5'
     #} END invariants
 
     def setUp(self):
+        # This will raise on travis, which is what we want to happen early as to prevent us to do any work
+        skip_on_travis_ci(lambda *args: None)(self)
         try:
             super(TestBigRepoR, self).setUp()
         except AttributeError:
@@ -54,14 +55,14 @@ def setUp(self):
         self.gitrorepo = Repo(repo_path, odbt=GitCmdObjectDB)
         self.puregitrorepo = Repo(repo_path, odbt=GitDB)
 
-
 class TestBigRepoRW(TestBigRepoR):
 
     """As above, but provides a big repository that we can write to.
 
     Provides ``self.gitrwrepo`` and ``self.puregitrwrepo``"""
 
     def setUp(self):
+        self.gitrwrepo = None
         try:
             super(TestBigRepoRW, self).setUp()
         except AttributeError:
@@ -72,6 +73,7 @@ def setUp(self):
         self.puregitrwrepo = Repo(dirname, odbt=GitDB)
 
     def tearDown(self):
-        shutil.rmtree(self.gitrwrepo.working_dir)
+        if self.gitrwrepo is not None:
+            shutil.rmtree(self.gitrwrepo.working_dir)
 
 #} END base classes
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
 from git import *
 from gitdb import IStream
 from git.test.test_commit import assert_commit_serialization
-from gitdb.test.lib import skip_on_travis_ci
 from cStringIO import StringIO
 from time import time
 import sys
@@ -29,7 +28,6 @@ def _query_commit_info(self, c):
         c.message
         c.parents
 
-    @skip_on_travis_ci
     def test_iteration(self):
         no = 0
         nc = 0
@@ -51,39 +49,36 @@ def test_iteration(self):
         print >> sys.stderr, "Traversed %i Trees and a total of %i unchached objects in %s [s] ( %f objs/s )" % (
             nc, no, elapsed_time, no / elapsed_time)
 
-    @skip_on_travis_ci
     def test_commit_traversal(self):
         # bound to cat-file parsing performance
         nc = 0
         st = time()
-        for c in self.gitrorepo.commit(self.head_sha_2k).traverse(branch_first=False):
+        for c in self.gitrorepo.commit().traverse(branch_first=False):
             nc += 1
             self._query_commit_info(c)
         # END for each traversed commit
         elapsed_time = time() - st
         print >> sys.stderr, "Traversed %i Commits in %s [s] ( %f commits/s )" % (nc, elapsed_time, nc / elapsed_time)
 
-    @skip_on_travis_ci
     def test_commit_iteration(self):
         # bound to stream parsing performance
         nc = 0
         st = time()
-        for c in Commit.iter_items(self.gitrorepo, self.head_sha_2k):
+        for c in Commit.iter_items(self.gitrorepo, self.gitrorepo.head):
             nc += 1
             self._query_commit_info(c)
         # END for each traversed commit
         elapsed_time = time() - st
         print >> sys.stderr, "Iterated %i Commits in %s [s] ( %f commits/s )" % (nc, elapsed_time, nc / elapsed_time)
 
-    @skip_on_travis_ci
     def test_commit_serialization(self):
-        assert_commit_serialization(self.gitrwrepo, self.head_sha_2k, True)
+        assert_commit_serialization(self.gitrwrepo, self.gitrwrepo.head, True)
 
         rwrepo = self.gitrwrepo
         make_object = rwrepo.odb.store
         # direct serialization - deserialization can be tested afterwards
         # serialization is probably limited on IO
-        hc = rwrepo.commit(self.head_sha_2k)
+        hc = rwrepo.commit(rwrepo.head)
 
         nc = 5000
         st = time()
 
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 
 from time import time
 import sys
-from gitdb.test.lib import skip_on_travis_ci
 
 from lib import (
     TestBigRepoR
@@ -11,13 +10,12 @@
 
 class TestObjDBPerformance(TestBigRepoR):
 
-    @skip_on_travis_ci
     def test_random_access(self):
         results = [["Iterate Commits"], ["Iterate Blobs"], ["Retrieve Blob Data"]]
         for repo in (self.gitrorepo, self.puregitrorepo):
             # GET COMMITS
             st = time()
-            root_commit = repo.commit(self.head_sha_2k)
+            root_commit = repo.commit(repo.head)
             commits = list(root_commit.traverse())
             nc = len(commits)
             elapsed = time() - st
 
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 from git.test.lib import *
 from gitdb import *
 from gitdb.util import bin_to_hex
-from gitdb.test.lib import skip_on_travis_ci
 
 from time import time
 import os
@@ -22,7 +21,6 @@ class TestObjDBPerformance(TestBigRepoR):
     large_data_size_bytes = 1000 * 1000 * 10        # some MiB should do it
     moderate_data_size_bytes = 1000 * 1000 * 1      # just 1 MiB
 
-    @skip_on_travis_ci
     @with_rw_repo('HEAD', bare=True)
     def test_large_data_streaming(self, rwrepo):
         # TODO: This part overlaps with the same file in gitdb.test.performance.test_stream
 
@@ -2,16 +2,13 @@
 from time import time
 import sys
 
-from gitdb.test.lib import skip_on_travis_ci
-
 from lib import (
     TestBigRepoR
 )
 
 
 class TestUtilPerformance(TestBigRepoR):
 
-    @skip_on_travis_ci
     def test_access(self):
         # compare dict vs. slot access
         class Slotty(object):
@@ -66,7 +63,6 @@ def __init__(self):
                 cls.__name__, na, elapsed, na / elapsed)
         # END for each sequence
 
-    @skip_on_travis_ci
     def test_instantiation(self):
         ni = 100000
         max_num_items = 4
@@ -109,7 +105,6 @@ def test_instantiation(self):
         elapsed = time() - st
         print >> sys.stderr, "Created %i tuples tuple((1,2,3,4)) in %f s ( %f tuples / s)" % (ni, elapsed, ni / elapsed)
 
-    @skip_on_travis_ci
     def test_unpacking_vs_indexing(self):
         ni = 1000000
         list_items = [1, 2, 3, 4]
@@ -141,7 +136,6 @@ def test_unpacking_vs_indexing(self):
                 ni, type(sequence).__name__, len(sequence), elapsed, ni / elapsed)
         # END for each sequence
 
-    @skip_on_travis_ci
     def test_large_list_vs_iteration(self):
         # what costs more: alloc/realloc of lists, or the cpu strain of iterators ?
         def slow_iter(ni):
@@ -166,7 +160,6 @@ def slow_iter(ni):
             print >> sys.stderr, "Iterated %i items from iterator in %f s ( %f acc / s)" % (ni, elapsed, ni / elapsed)
         # END for each number of iterations
 
-    @skip_on_travis_ci
     def test_type_vs_inst_class(self):
         class NewType(object):
             pass