diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index ee2c85e99..16cd21347 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,36 @@
 matrix:
   include:
+    # python manylinux packages
+
+    - name: "manylinux1_x86_64 cp36-cp36m package"
+      os: linux
+      sudo: true
+      services:
+        - docker
+      env:
+        - DOCKER_IMAGE="quay.io/pypa/manylinux1_x86_64"
+        - PY_VERSION="cp36-cp36m"
+        - DOCKER_BUILD=true
+        - MATRIX_EVAL=""
+      cache:
+        directories:
+        - ccache
+
+    - name: "manylinux1_i686 cp36-cp36m package"
+      os: linux
+      sudo: true
+      services:
+        - docker
+      env:
+        - DOCKER_IMAGE="quay.io/pypa/manylinux1_i686"
+        - PY_VERSION="cp36-cp36m"
+        - DOCKER_BUILD=true
+        - MATRIX_EVAL=""
+      cache:
+        directories:
+        - ccache
+
+
     # python 2 osx
     
     - name: "klayout python2 osx10.13"
@@ -288,7 +319,19 @@ before_install:
     fi
   - python -c "import distutils.sysconfig as sysconfig; print(sysconfig.__file__)"
 
-script: 
+install:
+  - if [ "$DOCKER_BUILD" = true ]; then
+        docker pull $DOCKER_IMAGE;
+    fi
+
+script:
+  - if [ "$DOCKER_BUILD" = true ]; then
+        mkdir -p ccache;
+        mkdir -p wheelhouse;
+        docker run --rm -e DOCKER_IMAGE -e PY_VERSION -v `pwd`:/io $DOCKER_IMAGE $PRE_CMD "/io/ci-scripts/docker/docker_build.sh";
+        mkdir -p deploy/dist-pymod;
+        cp -a wheelhouse/klayout-*manylinux1*.whl deploy/dist-pymod;
+    fi 
   - if [ "$PYTHON_BUILD" = true ]; then
         python setup.py build;
         python setup.py bdist_wheel;
diff --git a/ci-scripts/docker/Dockerfile.i686 b/ci-scripts/docker/Dockerfile.i686
index f73ca3ac1..7d68054fc 100644
--- a/ci-scripts/docker/Dockerfile.i686
+++ b/ci-scripts/docker/Dockerfile.i686
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ RUN ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/lib/ccache/gcc
 RUN ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/lib/ccache/g++
 
 # Add ccache to PATH
-ENV PATH="/usr/lib/ccache:${PATH}"
 RUN mkdir -p /persist/.ccache
 ENV CCACHE_DIR="/persist/.ccache"
 
diff --git a/ci-scripts/docker/Dockerfile.x86_64 b/ci-scripts/docker/Dockerfile.x86_64
index df4f05dc5..4bf03c3cd 100644
--- a/ci-scripts/docker/Dockerfile.x86_64
+++ b/ci-scripts/docker/Dockerfile.x86_64
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ RUN ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/lib64/ccache/gcc
 RUN ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/lib64/ccache/g++
 
 # Add ccache to PATH
-ENV PATH="/usr/lib64/ccache:${PATH}"
 RUN mkdir -p /persist/.ccache
 ENV CCACHE_DIR="/persist/.ccache"
 
diff --git a/ci-scripts/docker/README.md b/ci-scripts/docker/README.md
index 5ec87ee41..48b5a4dbd 100644
--- a/ci-scripts/docker/README.md
+++ b/ci-scripts/docker/README.md
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-# Step 1.
+# Chapter 1. Testing on your own computer
+## Step 1.
 
 Make sure you have the quay.io/pypa/manylinux1_x86_64 image.
 
@@ -19,7 +20,7 @@ Digest: sha256:a13b2719fb21daebfe25c0173d80f8a85a2326dd994510d7879676e7a2193500
 Status: Downloaded newer image for quay.io/pypa/manylinux1_x86_64:latest
 ```
 
-# Step 2.
+## Step 2.
 
 This step was inspired by https://dev.to/jibinliu/how-to-persist-data-in-docker-container-2m72
 Create a volume for klayout. This is necessary because docker containers don't persist data.
@@ -40,7 +41,7 @@ $ docker volume inspect klayout-persist
 ]
 ```
 
-# Step 3.
+## Step 3.
 
 Build image `myimage` with:
 
@@ -56,7 +57,7 @@ Then I run the docker with a terminal shell and load the volume klayout-persist
 $ docker run --name klayout --mount source=klayout-persist,target=/persist -it myimage
 ```
 
-# Step 4.
+## Step 4.
 
 In the shell, pull master from klayout.
 
@@ -102,7 +103,7 @@ cd /persist/klayout
 
 Encoded this behavior in a script called fix_wheel.sh. now you only need to run `./fix_wheel.sh wheelhouse/klayout-0.26.0.dev8-cp36-cp36m-manylinux1_x86_64.whl`, and it will overwrite the wheel.
 
-# Step 5. Iterate over all python versions.
+## Step 5. Iterate over all python versions.
 
 For that, we need something like:
 
@@ -135,3 +136,77 @@ for PYBIN in /opt/python/*/bin/; do
 I tested step 1-5 with both quay.io/pypa/manylinux1_x86_64 and quay.io/pypa/manylinux1_i686. So far the only failure was with `cp27-cp27mu` which gave this import error:
 
 `ImportError: /opt/python/cp27-cp27mu/lib/python2.7/site-packages/klayout/.libs/lib_pya.so: undefined symbol: PyUnicodeUCS2_AsUTF8String`
+
+I noticed that the ccache folder ended up with 800MB. I was hoping that the gcc compilation could reuse a lot of previously built objects but that didn't happen. I think that's because each python comes with its own header. So going forward it doesn't make sense to create a docker image for every python version. I will just cache a ccache folder via travis.
+The ccache folder after a single build has 657MB. Go figure.
+
+# Chapter 2. Testing CI flow with docker
+
+# Step 1. Testing commands in own computer
+
+First cloned with:
+```bash
+git clone git@github.com:lightwave-lab/klayout.git -b tmp/manylinux
+cd klayout
+```
+
+Let's work with a few environment variables, like in https://github.com/pypa/python-manylinux-demo/blob/master/.travis.yml
+
+DOCKER_IMAGE options: quay.io/pypa/manylinux1_x86_64 quay.io/pypa/manylinux1_i686
+
+PY_VERSION options: cp27-cp27m  cp27-cp27mu  cp34-cp34m  cp35-cp35m  cp36-cp36m  cp37-cp37m
+
+Total of 2x6 = 12 possibilities
+
+```bash
+export DOCKER_IMAGE=quay.io/pypa/manylinux1_x86_64
+export PY_VERSION="cp36-cp36m"
+docker pull $DOCKER_IMAGE
+mkdir -p ccache
+mkdir -p wheelhouse
+docker run --name klayout -v `pwd` -it $DOCKER_IMAGE
+```
+
+Inside docker shell:
+```bash
+yum install -y zlib-devel
+yum install -y zip
+
+yum install -y ccache
+ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/lib64/ccache/c++
+ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/lib64/ccache/cc
+ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/lib64/ccache/gcc
+ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/lib64/ccache/g++
+echo $PATH
+# /usr/lib64/ccache:/opt/rh/devtoolset-2/root/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
+export CCACHE_DIR="/io/ccache"
+
+# Compile wheel
+/opt/python/$PY_VERSION/bin/python setup.py bdist_wheel -d /io/wheelhouse/
+
+# Bundle external shared libraries into the wheels via auditwheel
+for whl in /io/wheelhouse/*linux_*.whl; do
+    auditwheel repair "$whl" -w /io/wheelhouse/
+done
+
+# Fix each wheel generated by auditwheel
+for whl in /io/wheelhouse/*manylinux1_*.whl; do
+    ./ci-scripts/docker/fix_wheel.sh "$whl"
+done
+
+```
+
+# Step 2. Automating step 1 in travis (CI).
+DOCKER_IMAGE options: quay.io/pypa/manylinux1_x86_64 quay.io/pypa/manylinux1_i686
+
+PY_VERSION options: cp27-cp27m  cp27-cp27mu  cp34-cp34m  cp35-cp35m  cp36-cp36m  cp37-cp37m
+
+Build: spawn 12 travis jobs, one for each combination of word-size and python version. 
+Output: populated ./ccache with compiled objects and wheels inside ./wheelhouse/, one useless, `*linux_*.whl` and one useful `*manylinux1_*.whl`.
+Post-build: 
+- cache `./ccache`
+- deploy `./wheelhouse/*manylinux1_*.whl` to dropbox (./deploy folder)
+
+# Step 3. Automating deployment to PyPI:
+
+TBD
diff --git a/ci-scripts/docker/docker_build.sh b/ci-scripts/docker/docker_build.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..58dccef8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci-scripts/docker/docker_build.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+
+if [[ -z $PY_VERSION ]]; then
+    echo '$PY_VERSION is not set'
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+if [[ -z $DOCKER_IMAGE ]]; then
+    echo '$DOCKER_IMAGE is not set'
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+echo PY_VERSION=$PY_VERSION
+echo DOCKER_IMAGE=$DOCKER_IMAGE
+
+yum install -y zlib-devel ccache zip || exit 1  # sometimes the epel server is down.
+
+if [[ $DOCKER_IMAGE == "quay.io/pypa/manylinux1_x86_64" ]]; then
+    ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/lib64/ccache/c++
+    ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/lib64/ccache/cc
+    ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/lib64/ccache/gcc
+    ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/lib64/ccache/g++
+elif [[ $DOCKER_IMAGE == "quay.io/pypa/manylinux1_i686" ]]; then
+    ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/lib/ccache/c++
+    ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/lib/ccache/cc
+    ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/lib/ccache/gcc
+    ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/lib/ccache/g++
+fi
+echo $PATH
+# /usr/lib64/ccache:/opt/rh/devtoolset-2/root/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
+export CCACHE_DIR="/io/ccache"
+cd /io
+
+# Compile wheel
+"/opt/python/$PY_VERSION/bin/python" setup.py bdist_wheel -d /io/wheelhouse/ || exit 1
+
+# Bundle external shared libraries into the wheels via auditwheel
+for whl in /io/wheelhouse/*linux_*.whl; do
+    auditwheel repair "$whl" -w /io/wheelhouse/ || exit 1
+done
+
+# Fix each wheel generated by auditwheel
+for whl in /io/wheelhouse/*manylinux1_*.whl; do
+    /io/ci-scripts/docker/fix_wheel.sh "$whl" || exit 1
+done
+
+# Install packages and test
+TEST_HOME=/io/testdata
+"/opt/python/$PY_VERSION/bin/pip" install klayout --no-index -f /io/wheelhouse || exit 1
+"/opt/python/$PY_VERSION/bin/python" $TEST_HOME/pymod/import_db.py || exit 1
+"/opt/python/$PY_VERSION/bin/python" $TEST_HOME/pymod/import_rdb.py || exit 1
+"/opt/python/$PY_VERSION/bin/python" $TEST_HOME/pymod/import_tl.py || exit 1
diff --git a/ci-scripts/docker/manylinux-docker.sh b/ci-scripts/docker/manylinux-docker.sh
index a4b958853..7591d0181 100644
--- a/ci-scripts/docker/manylinux-docker.sh
+++ b/ci-scripts/docker/manylinux-docker.sh
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/lib64/ccache/c++
 ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/lib64/ccache/cc
 ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/lib64/ccache/gcc
 ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/lib64/ccache/g++
-export PATH=/usr/lib64/ccache:$PATH
+# export PATH=/usr/lib64/ccache:$PATH # unnecessary
 
 # Compile wheels
 for PYBIN in /opt/python/*/bin; do