diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index b5ac60a0e..c81095fb2 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -7,14 +7,24 @@
 # to allow C++11, though we are not yet building with -std=c++11
 
 install:
+- if [[ $TRAVIS_OS_NAME == osx ]]; then
+     brew update;
+     brew install python3 ninja;
+     python3 -m venv venv;
+     source venv/bin/activate;
+  elif [[ $TRAVIS_OS_NAME == linux ]]; then
+     wget https://github.com/ninja-build/ninja/releases/download/v1.7.2/ninja-linux.zip;
+     unzip -q ninja-linux.zip -d build;
+  fi
+- pip3 install meson
 # /usr/bin/gcc is 4.6 always, but gcc-X.Y is available.
-- if [ "$CXX" = "g++" ]; then export CXX="g++-4.9" CC="gcc-4.9"; fi
+- if [[ $CXX = g++ ]]; then export CXX="g++-4.9" CC="gcc-4.9"; fi
 # /usr/bin/clang has a conflict with gcc, so use clang-X.Y.
-- if [ "$CXX" = "clang++" ]; then export CXX="clang++-3.5" CC="clang-3.5"; fi
+- if [[ $CXX = clang++ ]]; then export CXX="clang++-3.5" CC="clang-3.5"; fi
 - echo ${PATH}
 - ls /usr/local
 - ls /usr/local/bin
-- export PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:${PATH}
+- export PATH="${PWD}"/build:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:${PATH}
 - echo ${CXX}
 - ${CXX} --version
 - which valgrind
@@ -23,10 +33,7 @@ addons:
     sources:
     - ubuntu-toolchain-r-test
     - llvm-toolchain-precise-3.5
-    - george-edison55-precise-backports # cmake 3.2.3
     packages:
-    - cmake
-    - cmake-data
     - gcc-4.9
     - g++-4.9
     - clang-3.5
@@ -40,8 +47,9 @@ compiler:
 script: ./travis.sh
 env:
   matrix:
-    - SHARED_LIB=ON  STATIC_LIB=ON CMAKE_PKG=ON  BUILD_TYPE=release VERBOSE_MAKE=false
-    - SHARED_LIB=OFF STATIC_LIB=ON CMAKE_PKG=OFF BUILD_TYPE=debug   VERBOSE_MAKE=true VERBOSE
+    - LIB_TYPE=static BUILD_TYPE=release
+    - LIB_TYPE=shared BUILD_TYPE=debug
 notifications:
   email: false
+dist: trusty
 sudo: false
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..584a18754
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+project(
+  'jsoncpp',
+  'cpp',
+  version : '1.8.0',
+  default_options : [
+    'buildtype=release',
+    'warning_level=1'],
+  license : 'Public Domain',
+  meson_version : '>= 0.41.1')
+
+jsoncpp_ver_arr = meson.project_version().split('.')
+jsoncpp_major_version = jsoncpp_ver_arr[0]
+jsoncpp_minor_version = jsoncpp_ver_arr[1]
+jsoncpp_patch_version = jsoncpp_ver_arr[2]
+
+jsoncpp_cdata = configuration_data()
+jsoncpp_cdata.set('JSONCPP_VERSION', meson.project_version())
+jsoncpp_cdata.set('JSONCPP_VERSION_MAJOR', jsoncpp_major_version)
+jsoncpp_cdata.set('JSONCPP_VERSION_MINOR', jsoncpp_minor_version)
+jsoncpp_cdata.set('JSONCPP_VERSION_PATCH', jsoncpp_patch_version)
+
+jsoncpp_gen_sources = configure_file(
+  input : 'src/lib_json/version.h.in',
+  output : 'version.h',
+  configuration : jsoncpp_cdata,
+  install : true,
+  install_dir : join_paths(get_option('prefix'), get_option('includedir'), 'json')
+)
+
+jsoncpp_headers = [
+  'include/json/allocator.h',
+  'include/json/assertions.h',
+  'include/json/autolink.h',
+  'include/json/config.h',
+  'include/json/features.h',
+  'include/json/forwards.h',
+  'include/json/json.h',
+  'include/json/reader.h',
+  'include/json/value.h',
+  'include/json/writer.h']
+jsoncpp_include_directories = include_directories('include')
+
+install_headers(
+  jsoncpp_headers,
+  subdir : 'json')
+
+jsoncpp_lib = library(
+  'jsoncpp',
+  [ jsoncpp_gen_sources,
+    jsoncpp_headers,
+    'src/lib_json/json_tool.h',
+    'src/lib_json/json_reader.cpp',
+    'src/lib_json/json_value.cpp',
+    'src/lib_json/json_writer.cpp'],
+  soversion : 18,
+  install : true,
+  include_directories : jsoncpp_include_directories)
+
+import('pkgconfig').generate(
+  libraries : jsoncpp_lib,
+  version : meson.project_version(),
+  name : 'jsoncpp',
+  filebase : 'jsoncpp',
+  description : 'A C++ library for interacting with JSON')
+
+# for libraries bundling jsoncpp
+declare_dependency(
+  include_directories : jsoncpp_include_directories,
+  link_with : jsoncpp_lib,
+  version : meson.project_version(),
+  sources : jsoncpp_gen_sources)
+
+# tests
+python = import('python3').find_python()
+
+jsoncpp_test = executable(
+  'jsoncpp_test',
+  [ 'src/test_lib_json/jsontest.cpp',
+    'src/test_lib_json/jsontest.h',
+    'src/test_lib_json/main.cpp'],
+  include_directories : jsoncpp_include_directories,
+  link_with : jsoncpp_lib,
+  install : false)
+test(
+  'unittest_jsoncpp_test',
+  jsoncpp_test)
+
+jsontestrunner = executable(
+  'jsontestrunner',
+  'src/jsontestrunner/main.cpp',
+  include_directories : jsoncpp_include_directories,
+  link_with : jsoncpp_lib,
+  install : false)
+test(
+  'unittest_jsontestrunner',
+  python,
+  args : [
+    '-B',
+    join_paths(meson.current_source_dir(), 'test/runjsontests.py'),
+    jsontestrunner,
+    join_paths(meson.current_source_dir(), 'test/data')]
+  )
diff --git a/travis.sh b/travis.sh
index a9811ec7c..f80424bd7 100755
--- a/travis.sh
+++ b/travis.sh
@@ -17,15 +17,7 @@ set -vex
 
 env | sort
 
-cmake -DJSONCPP_WITH_CMAKE_PACKAGE=$CMAKE_PKG -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=$SHARED_LIB -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=$BUILD_TYPE -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE=$VERBOSE_MAKE .
-make
-cmake -DJSONCPP_WITH_CMAKE_PACKAGE=$CMAKE_PKG -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=$SHARED_LIB -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=$BUILD_TYPE -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE=$VERBOSE_MAKE -DJSONCPP_USE_SECURE_MEMORY=1 .
-make
-
-# Python is not available in Travis for osx.
-#  https://github.com/travis-ci/travis-ci/issues/2320
-if [ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" != "osx" ]
-then
-  make jsoncpp_check
-  valgrind --error-exitcode=42 --leak-check=full ./src/test_lib_json/jsoncpp_test
-fi
+meson --buildtype ${BUILD_TYPE} --default-library ${LIB_TYPE} . build-${LIB_TYPE}
+ninja -v -C build-${LIB_TYPE}
+ninja -v -C build-${LIB_TYPE} test
+rm -r build-${LIB_TYPE}