diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 980fc5c1eb..407fc25945 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -61,7 +61,8 @@ env:
     - BUILD_DIR="."
     - BASE_CONFIG="--disable-docs --disable-tools"
     - TEST_CMD="make check -j3 V=1"
-
+    # This is broadly a list of "mainline" softmmu targets which have support across the major distros
+    - MAIN_SOFTMMU_TARGETS="aarch64-softmmu,arm-softmmu,i386-softmmu,mips-softmmu,mips64-softmmu,ppc64-softmmu,riscv64-softmmu,s390x-softmmu,x86_64-softmmu"
 
 git:
   # we want to do this ourselves
@@ -81,8 +82,13 @@ matrix:
         - CONFIG="--disable-system"
 
 
+    # we split the system builds as it takes a while to build them all
     - env:
-        - CONFIG="--disable-user"
+        - CONFIG="--disable-user --target-list=${MAIN_SOFTMMU_TARGETS}"
+
+
+    - env:
+        - CONFIG="--disable-user --target-list-exclude=${MAIN_SOFTMMU_TARGETS}"
 
 
     # Just build tools and run minimal unit and softfloat checks
@@ -106,7 +112,7 @@ matrix:
 
     # Module builds are mostly of interest to major distros
     - env:
-        - CONFIG="--enable-modules --target-list=aarch64-softmmu,arm-softmmu,i386-softmmu,mips-softmmu,mips64-softmmu,ppc64-softmmu,riscv64-softmmu,s390x-softmmu,x86_64-softmmu"
+        - CONFIG="--enable-modules --target-list=${MAIN_SOFTMMU_TARGETS}"
 
 
     # Alternate coroutines implementations are only really of interest to KVM users
@@ -141,13 +147,18 @@ matrix:
 
 
     - env:
-        - CONFIG="--disable-user"
+        - CONFIG="--disable-user --target-list=${MAIN_SOFTMMU_TARGETS}"
+      compiler: clang
+
+
+    - env:
+        - CONFIG="--disable-user --target-list-exclude=${MAIN_SOFTMMU_TARGETS}"
       compiler: clang
 
 
     # gprof/gcov are GCC features
     - env:
-        - CONFIG="--enable-gprof --enable-gcov --disable-pie --target-list=aarch64-softmmu,arm-softmmu,i386-softmmu,mips-softmmu,mips64-softmmu,ppc64-softmmu,riscv64-softmmu,s390x-softmmu,x86_64-softmmu"
+        - CONFIG="--enable-gprof --enable-gcov --disable-pie --target-list=${MAIN_SOFTMMU_TARGETS}"
       after_success:
         - ${SRC_DIR}/scripts/travis/coverage-summary.sh
 
@@ -182,7 +193,7 @@ matrix:
 
     # MacOSX builds
     - env:
-        - CONFIG="--target-list=aarch64-softmmu,arm-softmmu,i386-softmmu,mips-softmmu,mips64-softmmu,ppc64-softmmu,riscv64-softmmu,s390x-softmmu,x86_64-softmmu"
+        - CONFIG="--target-list=${MAIN_SOFTMMU_TARGETS}"
       os: osx
       osx_image: xcode9.4
       compiler: clang