diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 35ba657f9..bf0b1f5a9 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE
 AC_CONFIG_HEADER([aegisub/posix/acconf.h])
 AC_GNU_SOURCE
 AC_CANONICAL_HOST
-AM_MAINTAINER_MODE
 
 
 ########################
@@ -56,6 +55,27 @@ AC_PROG_INSTALL
 PKG_PROG_PKG_CONFIG([0.20])
 
 
+#################
+# Developers only
+#################
+AM_MAINTAINER_MODE
+
+AC_ARG_VAR([DEBUG_FLAGS], [Debug flag to use with --enable debug (default: -g)])
+if test -z "$DEBUG_FLAGS"; then
+  DEBUG_FLAGS="-g";
+fi
+
+AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether to turn on debugging])
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(debug, [  --enable-debug          turn on debugging (default=no)])
+if test "$enable_debug" = "yes"; then
+  AC_MSG_RESULT([yes ($DEBUG_FLAGS)])
+  CPPFLAGS="$DEBUG_FLAGS $CPPFLAGS"
+else
+  AC_MSG_RESULT([no])
+fi
+
+
+
 ###################################################
 # Check for pthreads and setup variables / compiler
 ###################################################