diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index affefec8..fa8ad0e8 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ before_install:
   - cd libvips
   - git checkout 7.38
   - ./bootstrap.sh
-  - ./configure --enable-debug=no --enable-cxx=no --without-orc --without-python
+  - ./configure --enable-debug=no --enable-cxx=yes --without-orc --without-python
   - make
   - sudo make install
   - sudo ldconfig