diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 3d61f5a61a..d4587ca9fb 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -102,6 +102,8 @@ matrix:
       env: RUST_OPTIONS=""
     - compiler: gcc
       env: COVERAGE_OPTIONS="--enable-coverage"
+    - compiler: gcc
+      env: DISTCHECK="yes"
     ## The "sudo: required" forces non-containerized builds, working
     ## around a Travis CI environment issue: clang LeakAnalyzer fails
     ## because it requires ptrace and the containerized environment no
@@ -148,7 +150,8 @@ script:
   - ./autogen.sh
   - ./configure $RUST_OPTIONS $COVERAGE_OPTIONS --disable-asciidoc --enable-fatal-warnings --disable-silent-rules --enable-fragile-hardening
   ## We run `make check` because that's what https://jenkins.torproject.org does.
-  - make check
+  - if [[ "$DISTCHECK" == "" ]]; then make check; fi
+  - if [[ "$DISTCHECK" != "" ]]; then make distcheck DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS="$RUST_OPTIONS $COVERAGE_OPTIONS --disable-asciidoc --enable-fatal-warnings --disable-silent-rules --enable-fragile-hardening"; fi
 
 after_failure:
   ## `make check` will leave a log file with more details of test failures.
diff --git a/changes/travis_distcheck b/changes/travis_distcheck
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0f278fe7ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/travis_distcheck
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+  o Minor features (continuous integration):
+    - Our .travis.yml configuration now includes support for testing
+      the results of "make distcheck". (It's not uncommon for "make check" to
+      pass but "make distcheck" to fail.)  Closes ticket 25814.