diff --git a/configure b/configure
index ae0a0fc1..367e09a7 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -9,4 +9,4 @@
 # script itself.  It also sets up CFLAGS without the default optimizer
 # flag (-O2).
 
-( CFLAGS="-g"; export CFLAGS; cd scripts ; ./configure "$@" )
+( CFLAGS=${CFLAGS:-"-g"}; export CFLAGS; cd scripts ; ./configure "$@" )