diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index a77bf827..227ad4b3 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -3,8 +3,9 @@ dist: trusty
 sudo: required
 
 env:
-  - ci_docker=debian:buster-slim ci_distro=debian ci_suite=stretch
-  - ci_docker=debian:buster-slim ci_distro=debian ci_suite=stretch ci_configopts="--with-curl"
+  # debian has libsodium-dev, ubuntu doesn't in core at least
+  - ci_docker=debian:buster-slim ci_distro=debian ci_suite=stretch ci_configopts="--with-libsodium" ci_pkgs="libsodium-dev"
+  - ci_docker=debian:buster-slim ci_distro=debian ci_suite=stretch ci_configopts="--with-curl --with-libsodium --without-gpgme" ci_pkgs="libsodium-dev"
   - ci_docker=ubuntu:xenial ci_distro=ubuntu ci_suite=xenial
   - ci_docker=ubuntu:bionic ci_distro=ubuntu ci_suite=bionic
 
diff --git a/ci/travis-Dockerfile.in b/ci/travis-Dockerfile.in
index df999e78..9e47876e 100644
--- a/ci/travis-Dockerfile.in
+++ b/ci/travis-Dockerfile.in
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ FROM @ci_docker@
 ENV container docker
 
 ADD ci/travis-install.sh /travis-install.sh
-RUN ci_suite="@ci_suite@" ci_distro="@ci_distro@" ci_in_docker=yes /travis-install.sh
+RUN ci_suite="@ci_suite@" ci_distro="@ci_distro@" ci_pkgs="@ci_pkgs@" ci_in_docker=yes /travis-install.sh
 
 ADD . /home/user/ostree
 RUN chown -R user:user /home/user/ostree
diff --git a/ci/travis-install.sh b/ci/travis-install.sh
index 8992aed0..b455fd3e 100755
--- a/ci/travis-install.sh
+++ b/ci/travis-install.sh
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ if [ -n "$ci_docker" ]; then
         -e "s/@ci_distro@/${ci_distro}/" \
         -e "s/@ci_docker@/${ci_docker}/" \
         -e "s/@ci_suite@/${ci_suite}/" \
+        -e "s/@ci_pkgs@/${ci_pkgs}/" \
         < ci/travis-Dockerfile.in > Dockerfile
     exec docker build -t ci-image .
 fi
@@ -111,6 +112,7 @@ case "$ci_distro" in
             procps \
             zlib1g-dev \
             python3-yaml \
+            ${ci_pkgs:-} \
             ${NULL}
 
         if [ "$ci_in_docker" = yes ]; then