diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index a606376d05..d681acbe45 100755
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -5,10 +5,12 @@ sudo: false
 php:
   - 7.0
   - 7.1
+  - hhvm
   - nightly
 
 matrix:
   allow_failures:
+    - php: hhvm
     - php: nightly
 
 before_script:
diff --git a/src/main/php/__xp.php b/src/main/php/__xp.php
index 1496877456..e75b10f9aa 100755
--- a/src/main/php/__xp.php
+++ b/src/main/php/__xp.php
@@ -1,7 +1,13 @@
 <?php namespace xp;
 
-if (version_compare(PHP_VERSION, '7.0.0', '<')) {
-  throw new \Exception('This version of the XP Framework requires PHP 7.0.0+, have PHP '.PHP_VERSION);
+if (PHP_VERSION_ID < 70000) {
+  if (!defined('HHVM_VERSION_ID')) {
+    throw new \Exception('This version of the XP Framework requires PHP 7.0.0+, have PHP '.PHP_VERSION);
+  } else if (HHVM_VERSION_ID < 31100) {
+    throw new \Exception('This version of the XP Framework requires HHVM 3.10.0+, have HHVM '.HHVM_VERSION);
+  } else if (!ini_get('hhvm.php7.all')) {
+    throw new \Exception('This version of the XP Framework requires hhvm.php7.all to be set to 1');
+  }
 }
 
 $p= max(strrpos(__FILE__, DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR), strrpos(__FILE__, '?'));