diff --git a/scripts/configure.in b/scripts/configure.in
index 11c37324..1546fa6e 100644
--- a/scripts/configure.in
+++ b/scripts/configure.in
@@ -207,6 +207,17 @@ if test "x$enable_assertions" = "xyes" ; then
    NDEBUG_defs=""
 fi
 
+dnl Control assertions in codebase from configure
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(debug,
+[  --enable-debug               build with fatal debug enabled],
+[],
+[enable_debug=no])
+
+DEBUG_defs=""
+if test "x$enable_debug" = "xyes" ; then
+   DEBUG_defs="-DDEBUG"
+fi
+
 dnl Allow file compression (zlib) to be disabled
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(compression,
 [  --disable-compression        disable file compression],
@@ -1823,6 +1834,7 @@ AC_SUBST(SCRIPTS)
 AC_SUBST(extra_libs)
 AC_SUBST(extra_defs)
 AC_SUBST(stub_defs)
+AC_SUBST(DEBUG_defs)
 AC_SUBST(NDEBUG_defs)
 AC_SUBST(ld_extra_libs)
 AC_SUBST(ld_extra_objs)
diff --git a/scripts/defs.mak.in b/scripts/defs.mak.in
index 69a38021..459463ee 100755
--- a/scripts/defs.mak.in
+++ b/scripts/defs.mak.in
@@ -94,9 +94,9 @@ CXX		       = @CXX@
 CPPFLAGS               = -I${MAGICDIR} @CPPFLAGS@
 DFLAGS_MAGICVERSION    = -DMAGIC_VERSION=\"${MAGIC_VERSION}\" -DMAGIC_REVISION=\"${MAGIC_REVISION}\" -DMAGIC_COMMIT=\"${MAGIC_COMMIT}\" "-DMAGIC_BUILDDATE=\"${MAGIC_BUILDDATE}\""
 DFLAGS                 = @extra_defs@ @stub_defs@ @DEFS@ ${DFLAGS_MAGICVERSION} -DGCORE=\"@GCORE@\"
-DFLAGS		      += -DSHDLIB_EXT=\"@SHDLIB_EXT@\" @NDEBUG_defs@
+DFLAGS		      += -DSHDLIB_EXT=\"@SHDLIB_EXT@\" @NDEBUG_defs@ @DEBUG_defs@
 DFLAGS_NOSTUB	       = @extra_defs@             @DEFS@ ${DFLAGS_MAGICVERSION} -DGCORE=\"@GCORE@\"
-DFLAGS_NOSTUB	      += -DSHDLIB_EXT=\"@SHDLIB_EXT@\" @NDEBUG_defs@
+DFLAGS_NOSTUB	      += -DSHDLIB_EXT=\"@SHDLIB_EXT@\" @NDEBUG_defs@ @DEBUG_defs@
 CFLAGS                 = @CFLAGS@ @SHLIB_CFLAGS@ @INC_SPECS@
 
 READLINE_DEFS          = @rl_defs@