diff --git a/doc/xml/release.xml b/doc/xml/release.xml
index e36be1931..2854d1e4f 100644
--- a/doc/xml/release.xml
+++ b/doc/xml/release.xml
@@ -78,6 +78,10 @@
 
                         <p>Add <code>cfgOptionTest()</code> and update <code>cfgOption()</code> calls that are better implemented as <code>cfgOptionTest()</code>.</p>
                     </release-item>
+
+                    <release-item>
+                        <p>Build with <id>-DNDEBUG</id> by default but disable for testing.</p>
+                    </release-item>
                 </release-development-list>
             </release-core-list>
 
diff --git a/src/Makefile b/src/Makefile
index e19eccb86..b57ae39a0 100644
--- a/src/Makefile
+++ b/src/Makefile
@@ -22,11 +22,14 @@ CWARN = -Wfatal-errors -Wall -Wextra -Wwrite-strings -Wno-clobbered -Wswitch-enu
 # Automatically generate Perl compile options for the local system
 CPERL = `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts`
 
+# Debug options
+CDEBUG = -DNDEBUG
+
 # Extra compile options to be set by caller
 CEXTRA =
 
 # Concatenate options for easy usage
-CFLAGS = $(CINCLUDE) $(CSTD) $(COPT) $(CWARN) $(CPERL) $(CEXTRA)
+CFLAGS = $(CINCLUDE) $(CSTD) $(COPT) $(CWARN) $(CPERL) $(CDEBUG) $(CEXTRA)
 
 ####################################################################################################################################
 # Link options
diff --git a/test/test.pl b/test/test.pl
index 81760b419..2492bbcbc 100755
--- a/test/test.pl
+++ b/test/test.pl
@@ -522,7 +522,7 @@ eval
                     }
 
                     executeTest(
-                        "docker exec -i test-build make --silent --directory ${strBuildPath} CEXTRA=-g",
+                        "docker exec -i test-build make --silent --directory ${strBuildPath} CEXTRA=-g CDEBUG=",
                         {bShowOutputAsync => $bLogDetail});
 
                     executeTest(