diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 41c2409a..1d540182 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ endif
 # When this is running in travis, it will only check the travis commit range
 .gitvalidation:
 	@which git-validation > /dev/null 2>/dev/null || (echo "ERROR: git-validation not found. Consider 'make install.tools' target" && false)
-ifeq ($(TRAVIS),true)
+ifdef TRAVIS_COMMIT_RANGE
 	git-validation -q -run DCO,short-subject,dangling-whitespace
 else
 	git-validation -v -run DCO,short-subject,dangling-whitespace -range $(EPOCH_TEST_COMMIT)..HEAD