diff --git a/CI/travis/make_linux b/CI/travis/make_linux
index cf732d5d1..019fc0771 100755
--- a/CI/travis/make_linux
+++ b/CI/travis/make_linux
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ handle_default() {
 	if [ "${OS_VERSION}" = xenial ] ; then
 		FLAGS="${FLAGS} -DWITH_SERIAL_BACKEND=OFF"
 	else
-		FLAGS="${FLAGS} -DWITH_ZSTD=ON"
+		FLAGS="${FLAGS} -DWITH_SERIAL_BACKEND=ON -DWITH_ZSTD=ON"
 	fi
 
 	echo "### cmake ${FLAGS}"
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 47f9383f1..a6924ee52 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -250,13 +250,12 @@ if(WITH_LOCAL_BACKEND)
 	endif()
 endif()
 
-option(WITH_SERIAL_BACKEND "Enable the serial backend" ON)
+option(WITH_SERIAL_BACKEND "Enable the serial backend" OFF)
 if (WITH_SERIAL_BACKEND)
 	find_library(LIBSERIALPORT_LIBRARIES serialport)
 	find_path(LIBSERIALPORT_INCLUDE_DIR libserialport.h)
 	if (NOT LIBSERIALPORT_LIBRARIES OR NOT LIBSERIALPORT_INCLUDE_DIR)
-		message(SEND_ERROR "Unable to find libserialport dependency.\n"
-			"If you want to disable the serial backend, set WITH_SERIAL_BACKEND=OFF.")
+		message(SEND_ERROR "Unable to find libserialport dependency.\n")
 	else()
 		message(STATUS "Looking for libserialport : Found")