diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 8b4c28167..4b10ed3e0 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -10,6 +10,19 @@ install:
 script:
   - files="$(find -name '*.md' -print0 | xargs -0 markdownfmt -l)";
     if [ "$files" ]; then
+      echo >&2 "Need markdownfmt:";
       echo >&2 "$files";
       exit 1;
     fi
+  - failed='';
+    for short in */README-short.txt; do
+      chars="$(echo -n "$(cat "$short")" | wc -m)";
+      lines="$(cat "$short" | wc -l)";
+      if [ "$chars" -gt 100 -o "$lines" -gt 1 ]; then
+        failed+=" $short";
+      fi
+    done;
+    if [ "$failed" ]; then
+      echo >&2 "Too long (or too many lines):$failed";
+      exit 1;
+    fi