diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index a9d5ace13..63d673adf 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 language: python
 python:
+  - 2.6
   - 2.7
 before_install:
   - sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
diff --git a/pythonnet/setupmono.py b/pythonnet/setupmono.py
index bf13fb5a9..7a0b02901 100644
--- a/pythonnet/setupmono.py
+++ b/pythonnet/setupmono.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 from distutils.command.build_ext import build_ext
 from distutils.sysconfig import get_config_vars
 from platform import architecture
-from subprocess import check_output, check_call
+from subprocess import Popen, CalledProcessError, PIPE, check_call
 import shutil
 import sys
 import os
@@ -77,10 +77,10 @@ def build_extension(self, ext):
 
 
     def _build_monoclr(self, ext):
-        mono_libs = check_output("pkg-config --libs mono-2", shell=True)
-        mono_cflags = check_output("pkg-config --cflags mono-2", shell=True)
-        glib_libs = check_output("pkg-config --libs glib-2.0", shell=True)
-        glib_cflags = check_output("pkg-config --cflags glib-2.0", shell=True)
+        mono_libs = _check_output("pkg-config --libs mono-2", shell=True)
+        mono_cflags = _check_output("pkg-config --cflags mono-2", shell=True)
+        glib_libs = _check_output("pkg-config --libs glib-2.0", shell=True)
+        glib_cflags = _check_output("pkg-config --cflags glib-2.0", shell=True)
         cflags = mono_cflags.strip() + " " + glib_cflags.strip()
         libs = mono_libs.strip() + " " + glib_libs.strip()
 
@@ -129,6 +129,22 @@ def _build_monoclr(self, ext):
                                       debug=self.debug)
 
 
+def _check_output(*popenargs, **kwargs):
+    """subprocess.check_output from python 2.7.
+    Added here to support building for earlier versions
+    of Python.
+    """
+    process = Popen(stdout=PIPE, *popenargs, **kwargs)
+    output, unused_err = process.communicate()
+    retcode = process.poll()
+    if retcode:
+        cmd = kwargs.get("args")
+        if cmd is None:
+            cmd = popenargs[0]
+        raise CalledProcessError(retcode, cmd, output=output)
+    return output
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     setup(name="pythonnet",
           ext_modules=[
diff --git a/pythonnet/src/runtime/converter.cs b/pythonnet/src/runtime/converter.cs
index af7acd972..650a6178a 100644
--- a/pythonnet/src/runtime/converter.cs
+++ b/pythonnet/src/runtime/converter.cs
@@ -540,6 +540,14 @@ static bool ToPrimitive(IntPtr value, Type obType, out Object result,
                 if (Exceptions.ErrorOccurred()) {
                     goto overflow;
                 }
+
+                IntPtr check = Runtime.PyLong_FromUnsignedLong(ui);
+                int err = Runtime.PyObject_Compare(check, op);
+                Runtime.Decref(check);
+                if (0 != err || Exceptions.ErrorOccurred()) {
+                    goto overflow;
+                }
+
                 result = ui;
                 return true;
 
diff --git a/pythonnet/src/tests/runtests.py b/pythonnet/src/tests/runtests.py
index 3ce023fca..452b701f8 100755
--- a/pythonnet/src/tests/runtests.py
+++ b/pythonnet/src/tests/runtests.py
@@ -62,10 +62,13 @@ def main(verbosity=1):
         module = __import__(name)
         suite.addTests((module.test_suite(),))
         
-    unittest.TextTestRunner(verbosity=verbosity).run(suite)
+    result = unittest.TextTestRunner(verbosity=verbosity).run(suite)
+    if not result.wasSuccessful():
+        raise Exception("Tests failed")
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     main(1)
     if '--pause' in sys.argv:
         print "Press enter to continue"
         raw_input()
+