diff --git a/.github/workflows/github_ci.yml b/.github/workflows/github_ci.yml
index 5127f76da..552a61d1e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/github_ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/github_ci.yml
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ jobs:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v2
     - name: Build
       run: |
-        docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/src trzeci/emscripten make -f Makefile.simple emscripten
+        docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/src emscripten/emsdk make -f Makefile.simple emscripten
     - name: Do a simple test
       run: |
         ls -lAF hyper.html hyper.js hyper.wasm
diff --git a/.github/workflows/install_deps.sh b/.github/workflows/install_deps.sh
index c20481577..1c7513006 100755
--- a/.github/workflows/install_deps.sh
+++ b/.github/workflows/install_deps.sh
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ set -x -e o pipefail
 
 
 GH_DEPS_UBUNTU="$GH_COMPILER libsdl1.2-dev libsdl-ttf2.0-dev libsdl-gfx1.2-dev libsdl-mixer1.2-dev"
-GH_DEPS_MACOS="sdl sdl_gfx sdl_mixer sdl_ttf"
+GH_DEPS_MACOS="sdl sdl_gfx sdl_mixer sdl_ttf" # macos-latest already has both gcc and clang
 GH_DEPS_MINGW64="$GH_COMPILER:x SDL:x SDL_ttf:x SDL_gfx:x SDL_mixer:x make gdb:x"
 
 if [[ "$GH_HYP_GLEW" == "glew_1" ]]; then
@@ -26,8 +26,8 @@ fi
 if [[ "$GH_OS" == "ubuntu-latest" ]]; then
   sudo apt-get -y install $GH_DEPS_UBUNTU
 elif [[ "$GH_OS" == "macos-latest" ]]; then
-  brew update
-  # macos-latest already has both gcc and clang
+  # As of 2020-09-30, brew update sometimes times out on Github CI, so we don't do it here
+  # it's also arguably not necessary because VM images already contain recent-ish homebrew database
   brew install $GH_DEPS_MACOS
   # work around https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51034399/ for now
   (cd /usr/local/include && ln -sf SDL/SDL.h)
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test_simple.sh b/.github/workflows/test_simple.sh
index 5cbff0dd0..c64cdb690 100755
--- a/.github/workflows/test_simple.sh
+++ b/.github/workflows/test_simple.sh
@@ -5,8 +5,7 @@ if [[ "$GH_OS" == "windows-latest" && "$GH_BUILDSYS" == "mymake" ]]; then
 
 cat << ENDOFCMDS > .github/workflows/gdb_cmds.txt
   run --version
-  backtrace
-  exit 1
+  quit 1
 ENDOFCMDS
 
   gdb --batch -x .github/workflows/gdb_cmds.txt ./hyperrogue
diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 5da342ab0..59882a387 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -135,7 +135,8 @@ before_install:
     sudo apt-get update -qq
     sudo apt-get install -qq libsdl1.2-dev libsdl-gfx1.2-dev libsdl-mixer1.2-dev libsdl-ttf2.0-dev
   elif [[ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" == "osx" ]]; then
-    brew update
+    # brew update
+    export HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1
     brew install sdl sdl_gfx sdl_mixer sdl_ttf
     # work around https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51034399/ for now
     (cd /usr/local/include && ln -sf SDL/SDL.h)
@@ -193,7 +194,7 @@ script:
       ./mymake
     fi
   elif [[ "$TRAVIS_BUILD_SYSTEM" == "emscripten" ]]; then
-    docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/src trzeci/emscripten make -f Makefile.simple emscripten
+    docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/src emscripten/emsdk make -f Makefile.simple emscripten
   else
     exit 'Unsupported build system'
   fi
diff --git a/mymake.cpp b/mymake.cpp
index e3a729881..f98d3b621 100644
--- a/mymake.cpp
+++ b/mymake.cpp
@@ -57,7 +57,6 @@ void set_mingw64() {
   linker = "g++ -o hyper";
   opts = "-DWINDOWS -DCAP_GLEW=1 -DCAP_PNG=1";
   libs = " savepng.o hyper.res -lopengl32 -lSDL -lSDL_gfx -lSDL_mixer -lSDL_ttf -lpthread -lz -lglew32 -lpng";
-  setvbuf(stdout, NULL, _IONBF, 0); // MinGW is quirky with output buffering
   }
 
 vector<string> modules;
@@ -84,6 +83,7 @@ bool file_exists(string fname) {
   }
   
 int main(int argc, char **argv) {
+  setvbuf(stdout, nullptr, _IONBF, 0); // this should help with responsiveness of the real-time CI logs
 #if defined(MAC)
   set_mac();
 #elif defined(WINDOWS)