diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 1ffd012..5c2023e 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
+# basic travis setup for a simple Ubuntu trusty container
 sudo: true
 dist: trusty
 language: bash
 
+# restrict build to certain branches
 general:
   branches:
     only:
@@ -10,14 +12,28 @@ general:
 
 before_install:
   - PROJECTDIR=$(pwd)
+   # this line below downloads tex-live distribution to the container
+   # it uses a German Mirror from the Friedrich-Alexander University
+   # we use a custom tex-live distribution because the trusty repo does not 
+   # contain a texlive version that supports fontawesome, thus failing the builds
+   # see https://tug.org/
+   # see https://ctan.org/mirrors
   - cd /tmp && wget http://ftp.fau.de/ctan/systems/texlive/tlnet/install-tl-unx.tar.gz
+   # unpacking the texlive unix distribution
+   # and prepare for building
   - tar -xvzf install-tl-unx.tar.gz
   - cd install-tl-*
   - chmod +x install-tl
+   # we install it using a given texlive.profile 
+   # (see https://github.com/jankapunkt/latexcv/blob/master/texlive.profile)
+   # and add it's executable to $PATH
+   # if everything was successful, we can enter the pdflatex command
+   # without any errors
   - sudo ./install-tl --profile=$PROJECTDIR/texlive.profile
   - PATH=/usr/local/texlive/2017/bin/x86_64-linux:$PATH
   - pdflatex -v
   - cd $PROJECTDIR
 
+# finally run the test scripts from https://github.com/jankapunkt/latexcv/tree/master/tests
 script:
   - bash tests/testall.sh