diff --git a/package/Makefile.in b/package/Makefile.in
index 86db62ba5b..955e6a8e8c 100644
--- a/package/Makefile.in
+++ b/package/Makefile.in
@@ -148,6 +148,9 @@ endif
 ifeq ($(BR2_DEBUG_3),y)
 TARGET_DEBUGGING = -g3
 endif
+ifeq ($(BR2_ENABLE_RUNTIME_DEBUG),)
+TARGET_DEBUGGING += -DNDEBUG
+endif
 
 TARGET_LDFLAGS = $(call qstrip,$(BR2_TARGET_LDFLAGS))