diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index b2d492f8c6..65b825ff64 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 # Additional builds with specific requirements for a full VM need to
 # be added as additional matrix: entries later on
 os: linux
-dist: xenial
+dist: focal
 language: c
 compiler:
   - gcc
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ cache:
   # There is one cache per branch and compiler version.
   # characteristics of each job are used to identify the cache:
   # - OS name (currently only linux)
-  # - OS distribution (for Linux, xenial, trusty, or precise)
+  # - OS distribution (for Linux, bionic or focal)
   # - Names and values of visible environment variables set in .travis.yml or Settings panel
   timeout: 1200
   ccache: true
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ addons:
       - libattr1-dev
       - libbrlapi-dev
       - libcap-ng-dev
-      - libgcc-4.8-dev
+      - libgcc-7-dev
       - libgnutls28-dev
       - libgtk-3-dev
       - libiscsi-dev
@@ -210,8 +210,10 @@ jobs:
 
     # gprof/gcov are GCC features
     - name: "GCC gprof/gcov"
+      dist: bionic
       env:
-        - CONFIG="--enable-gprof --enable-gcov --disable-pie --target-list=${MAIN_SOFTMMU_TARGETS}"
+        - CONFIG="--enable-gprof --enable-gcov --disable-libssh
+                  --target-list=${MAIN_SOFTMMU_TARGETS}"
       after_success:
         - ${SRC_DIR}/scripts/travis/coverage-summary.sh
 
@@ -270,6 +272,7 @@ jobs:
 
     # Using newer GCC with sanitizers
     - name: "GCC9 with sanitizers (softmmu)"
+      dist: bionic
       addons:
         apt:
           update: true
@@ -285,7 +288,7 @@ jobs:
             - libattr1-dev
             - libbrlapi-dev
             - libcap-ng-dev
-            - libgnutls-dev
+            - libgnutls28-dev
             - libgtk-3-dev
             - libiscsi-dev
             - liblttng-ust-dev
@@ -293,14 +296,13 @@ jobs:
             - libncurses5-dev
             - libnss3-dev
             - libpixman-1-dev
-            - libpng12-dev
+            - libpng-dev
             - librados-dev
             - libsdl2-dev
             - libsdl2-image-dev
             - libseccomp-dev
             - libspice-protocol-dev
             - libspice-server-dev
-            - libssh-dev
             - liburcu-dev
             - libusb-1.0-0-dev
             - libvte-2.91-dev
@@ -310,11 +312,11 @@ jobs:
       compiler: none
       env:
         - COMPILER_NAME=gcc CXX=g++-9 CC=gcc-9
-        - CONFIG="--cc=gcc-9 --cxx=g++-9 --disable-pie --disable-linux-user"
+        - CONFIG="--cc=gcc-9 --cxx=g++-9 --disable-linux-user"
         - TEST_CMD=""
       before_script:
         - mkdir -p ${BUILD_DIR} && cd ${BUILD_DIR}
-        - ${SRC_DIR}/configure ${CONFIG} --extra-cflags="-g3 -O0 -Wno-error=stringop-truncation -fsanitize=thread" --extra-ldflags="-fuse-ld=gold" || { cat config.log && exit 1; }
+        - ${SRC_DIR}/configure ${CONFIG} --extra-cflags="-g3 -O0 -fsanitize=thread" || { cat config.log && exit 1; }
 
 
     # Run check-tcg against linux-user
@@ -356,7 +358,7 @@ jobs:
 
     - name: "[aarch64] GCC check-tcg"
       arch: arm64
-      dist: xenial
+      dist: focal
       addons:
         apt_packages:
           - libaio-dev
@@ -389,7 +391,7 @@ jobs:
 
     - name: "[ppc64] GCC check-tcg"
       arch: ppc64le
-      dist: xenial
+      dist: focal
       addons:
         apt_packages:
           - libaio-dev