So, the config file appears to take longer to write out to the file system.

.travis.yml

@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ script: php tests/all_tests.php -d $DB
 after_failure:
   - sudo cat /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
   - sudo cat /var/log/nginx/error.log
+  - sudo ls -al 
+  - sudo ls -al data/config/
   - sudo cat data/config/shimmie.conf.php
   - sudo cat data/config/extensions.conf.php
   - sudo cat /var/log/php5-fpm.log

install.php

@@ -404,6 +404,9 @@ function build_dirs() { // {{{
 	if(!is_writable("thumbs")) @chmod("thumbs", 0755);
 	if(!is_writable("data")  ) @chmod("data", 0755);
 
+	// Clear file status cache before checking again.
+	clearstatcache();
+	
 	if(
 		!file_exists("images") || !file_exists("thumbs") || !file_exists("data") ||
 		!is_writable("images") || !is_writable("thumbs") || !is_writable("data")

tests/all_tests.php

@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@ require_once('lib/simpletest/reporter.php');
 require_once('tests/test_install.php');
 require_once("core/util.inc.php");
 
+// Enable all errors.
+error_reporting(E_ALL);
+
+// Get the command line option telling us what database to use.
 $options = getopt("d:");
 $db = $options["d"];
 
@@ -30,6 +34,8 @@ $test_suite->add(new ShimmieInstallerTest());
 // From index.php
 //
 
+clearstatcache();
+
 require_once("core/sys_config.inc.php");
 include "data/config/shimmie.conf.php";