diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 0298c80..9a64b45 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -10,6 +10,13 @@ AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([src/rpcbind.c])
  AC_HEADER_DIRENT
  AC_PREFIX_DEFAULT(/usr)
                     
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(debug,[  --enable-debug      Turns on rpcbind debugging], 
+	[case "${enableval}" in
+		yes) debug=true ;;
+		no)  debug=no ;;
+		*) AC_MSG_ERROR(bad value ${enableval} for --enable-debug) ;;
+	esac],[debug=false])
+AM_CONDITIONAL(DEBUG, test x$debug = xtrue)
 
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS([arpa/inet.h fcntl.h netdb.h \
                   netinet/in.h stdlib.h string.h \
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index 8684a4b..52d3857 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -18,8 +18,10 @@ rpcbind_LDFLAGS = -lpthread -ltirpc
 rpcbind_LDADD = $(LIB_TIRPC)
 AM_CPPFLAGS = -I/usr/include/tirpc -DCHECK_LOCAL -DPORTMAP \
                        -DFACILITY=LOG_MAIL -DSEVERITY=LOG_INFO
-##                     -DRPCBIND_DEBUG -DSVC_RUN_DEBUG -DDEBUG_RMTCALL \
-##                     -DND_DEBUG -DBIND_DEBUG
+if DEBUG
+INCLUDES +=	-DRPCBIND_DEBUG -DSVC_RUN_DEBUG -DDEBUG_RMTCALL
+INCLUDES +=	-DND_DEBUG -DBIND_DEBUG
+endif
 
 $(rpcbind_OBJECTS) :    security.o util.o check_bound.o pmap_svc.o \
                         rpcb_svc.o rpcb_svc_com.o rpcb_svc_4.o \