diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 8115b829..b1eb16ce 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 # common
 coverage
 node_modules
+test/registry/couch
+test/registry/data
 *.log
+*.dump
 .DS_Store
 .nyc_output
 .test
@@ -9,4 +12,3 @@ node_modules
 
 # build-artifacts
 dist
-test/registry/couchdb.*
diff --git a/.npmignore b/.npmignore
index f414a58c..e3f24950 100644
--- a/.npmignore
+++ b/.npmignore
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 # common
 coverage
 node_modules
+test/registry/couch
+test/registry/data
 *.log
+*.dump
 .DS_Store
 .nyc_output
 .test
diff --git a/test/lib/base-scenario.js b/test/lib/base-scenario.js
index 2879b350..cf1a904b 100644
--- a/test/lib/base-scenario.js
+++ b/test/lib/base-scenario.js
@@ -6,8 +6,9 @@ module.exports = function (cwd, uri) {
     .env('NPM_OLD_TOKEN', 'aW50ZWdyYXRpb246c3VjaHNlY3VyZQ==')
 		.env('NPM_EMAIL', 'integration@test.com')
     .env('GH_TOKEN', 'ghtoken')
-    .env('CI', true)
+    .env('CI', 'true')
+    .env('TRAVIS', 'true')
+    .env('TRAVIS_BRANCH', 'master')
     .env('npm_config_registry', uri)
-    .env('npm_config_loglevel', 'info')
     .clone()
 }
diff --git a/test/registry/index.js b/test/registry/index.js
index 27d076aa..c688755e 100644
--- a/test/registry/index.js
+++ b/test/registry/index.js
@@ -8,5 +8,5 @@ const opts = {
 module.exports = {
   start: exec.bind(null, './start.sh', opts),
   stop: exec.bind(null, './stop.sh', opts),
-  uri: 'http://localhost:5984/registry/_design/app/_rewrite/'
+  uri: 'http://localhost:15986/registry/_design/app/_rewrite/'
 }
diff --git a/test/registry/local.ini b/test/registry/local.ini
index c9ffa267..ccaf0d95 100644
--- a/test/registry/local.ini
+++ b/test/registry/local.ini
@@ -1,16 +1,19 @@
+[couchdb]
+database_dir = data
+view_index_dir = data
+delayed_commits = false
+
 [couch_httpd_auth]
 public_fields = appdotnet, avatar, avatarMedium, avatarLarge, date, email, fields, freenode, fullname, github, homepage, name, roles, twitter, type, _id, _rev
 users_db_public = true
 
 [httpd]
-bind_address = 0.0.0.0
+port = 15986
+bind_address = 127.0.0.1
 secure_rewrites = false
 
-[couchdb]
-delayed_commits = false
+[log]
+file = couch/couch.log
 
 [admins]
 admin = -pbkdf2-89582b49cd2e8443e29a841f5a76d367956a8e58,1afa2f1531a17ac97f2ac9e334293753,10
-
-[log]
-level = none
diff --git a/test/registry/start.sh b/test/registry/start.sh
index 3dbc9145..8ad797f6 100755
--- a/test/registry/start.sh
+++ b/test/registry/start.sh
@@ -5,10 +5,21 @@ set -e
 
 cd $(dirname $0)
 
-# start couchdb as a background process, reset config, load local config
-couchdb -b -a local.ini
+mkdir -p couch
 
-COUCH=http://admin:password@127.0.0.1:5984
+# start couchdb as a background process, load local config, specify writable logfiles
+if [[ $TRAVIS = true ]]
+then
+  echo 'starting couch with sudo'
+  sudo couchdb -b -a local.ini -p couch/pid -o couch/stdout.log -e couch/stderr.log
+else
+  couchdb -b -a local.ini -p couch/pid -o couch/stdout.log -e couch/stderr.log
+fi
+
+# wait for couch to start
+sleep 5
+
+COUCH=http://admin:password@127.0.0.1:15986
 
 # create "registry" database
 curl -X PUT $COUCH/registry
diff --git a/test/registry/stop.sh b/test/registry/stop.sh
index d8ccd2a4..58703638 100755
--- a/test/registry/stop.sh
+++ b/test/registry/stop.sh
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-# delete "registry" database
-curl -X DELETE http://admin:password@127.0.0.1:5984/registry
-
-# delete "_users" database
-curl -X DELETE http://admin:password@127.0.0.1:5984/_users
-
 # close couchdb background process
 couchdb -d
+
+# delete data and logs
+cd $(dirname $0)
+
+cat couch/{couch,stdout,stderr}.log
+
+rm -rf couch
+rm -rf data
diff --git a/test/scenarios/pre.js b/test/scenarios/pre.js
index 6c5d1ba7..12acf2bd 100644
--- a/test/scenarios/pre.js
+++ b/test/scenarios/pre.js
@@ -12,16 +12,23 @@ test('change version', (t) => {
 
   registry.start((err) => {
     t.error(err, 'registry started')
-    if (err) t.bailout('registry not started')
+    if (err) {
+      t.end()
+      t.bailout('registry not started')
+    }
 
     testModule('change-version', (err, cwd) => {
       t.error(err, 'test-module created')
-      if (err) t.bailout('test-module not created')
+      if (err) {
+        t.end()
+        t.bailout('test-module not created')
+      }
 
       t.test('no version', (tt) => {
         tt.plan(1)
 
         baseScenario(cwd, registry.uri)
+          .env('npm_config_loglevel', 'info')
           .run('node ../../../bin/semantic-release.js pre')
           .stderr(/ENOCHANGE/)
           .code(1)
@@ -80,8 +87,10 @@ test('change version', (t) => {
 })
 
 tearDown(() => {
-  function cb (err) {
+  function cb (err, stdout, stderr) {
     if (err) console.log(err)
+    if (stdout) console.log(stdout)
+    if (stderr) console.log(stderr)
   }
 
   rimraf(join(__dirname, '../tmp'), cb)