diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index f0d18e4..40142e9 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -3,3 +3,4 @@ VERSION
 kramdown-parser-gfm.gemspec
 Gemfile
 Gemfile.lock
+test/gemfiles/*.lock
diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 729d338..b5a1a95 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
 language: ruby
 cache: bundler
-rvm:
-  - 2.3
-  - 2.4
-  - 2.5
-  - 2.6
+matrix:
+ include:
+  - rvm: 2.3
+  - rvm: 2.4
+  - rvm: 2.5
+  - rvm: 2.6
+  - gemfile: test/gemfiles/with_rinku.gemfile
+    rvm: 2.6
 
 branches:
   only:
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 38afbde..d4272e5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ Note: Until kramdown version 2.0.0 this parser was part of the kramdown distribu
 
 ```bash
 gem install kramdown-parser-gfm
+gem install rinku # to get optional autolinking functionality (see below)
 ```
 
 
@@ -45,6 +46,11 @@ In this case the correct GFM result is:
 
     <p>This <del>is a complex strike through *test ~~with nesting</del> involved* here~~.</p>
 
+### Autolinking of absolute URIs (bare links)
+
+GFM allows bare links with no markup to be converted into links (see https://github.github.com/gfm/#absolute-uri).
+In order to enable this functionality you need to install the optional dependency (rinku)[https://github.com/vmg/rinku].
+If this is installed, then the bare links will be converted.
 
 ### Options
 
@@ -87,6 +93,9 @@ provided rake tasks.
 
 Run `rake --tasks` to view a list of available tasks.
 
+To test the rinku functionality locally:
+
+    bundle exec  --gemfile=test/gemfiles/with_rinku.gemfile rake
 
 ## License
 
diff --git a/test/gemfiles/with_rinku.gemfile b/test/gemfiles/with_rinku.gemfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9bef320
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/gemfiles/with_rinku.gemfile
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+eval_gemfile '../../Gemfile'
+# gemspec path: '../../'
+
+gem 'rinku'
diff --git a/test/test_files.rb b/test/test_files.rb
index 664f13d..a24e18f 100644
--- a/test/test_files.rb
+++ b/test/test_files.rb
@@ -15,10 +15,19 @@
 
 Encoding.default_external = 'utf-8'
 
+WITH_RINKU = begin
+               require 'rinku'
+               true
+             rescue LoadError
+               false
+             end
+
 class TestFiles < Minitest::Test
 
   # Generate test methods for gfm-to-html conversion
-  Dir[__dir__ + '/testcases/**/*.text'].each do |text_file|
+  testcases_path = WITH_RINKU ? '/testcases_with_rinku/**/*.text' : '/testcases/**/*.text'
+
+  Dir[__dir__ + testcases_path].each do |text_file|
     basename = text_file.sub(/\.text$/, '')
 
     html_file = basename + '.html'
diff --git a/test/testcases_with_rinku/links.html b/test/testcases_with_rinku/links.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f81944b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/testcases_with_rinku/links.html
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+<p>Here is a markdown style link: <a href="https://github.com/kramdown/parser-gfm">https://github.com/kramdown/parser-gfm></a></p>
+
+<p>Here is a markdown style minimal link: <a href="https://github.com/kramdown/parser-gfm">https://github.com/kramdown/parser-gfm></a></p>
+
+<p>Here is a bare (gfm) link: <a href="https://github.com/kramdown/parser-gfm">https://github.com/kramdown/parser-gfm></a></p>
diff --git a/test/testcases_with_rinku/links.text b/test/testcases_with_rinku/links.text
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..447d37a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/testcases_with_rinku/links.text
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+Here is a markdown style link: [https://github.com/kramdown/parser-gfm](https://github.com/kramdown/parser-gfm)
+
+Here is a markdown style minimal link: <https://github.com/kramdown/parser-gfm>
+
+Here is a bare (gfm) link: https://github.com/kramdown/parser-gfm