diff --git a/autogen.des b/autogen.des
index ae1e524..b92f572 100755
--- a/autogen.des
+++ b/autogen.des
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ export CONFIG_SHELL=/bin/sh
 	--with-pamtest \
 	--with-su \
 	--with-modules-dir=/usr/lib \
+	--enable-debug \
 	--enable-developer-warnings \
 	--enable-werror \
 	"$@"
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 029dcce..eea04f2 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -31,8 +31,8 @@ AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(LIB_MAJ, $LIB_MAJ, [OpenPAM library major number])
 
 AC_ARG_ENABLE([debug],
     AC_HELP_STRING([--enable-debug],
-	[turn debugging on by default]),
-    AC_DEFINE(OPENPAM_DEBUG, 1, [Turn debugging on by default]))
+	[turn debugging macros on]),
+    AC_DEFINE(OPENPAM_DEBUG, 1, [Turn debugging macros on]))
 
 AC_ARG_ENABLE([unversioned-modules],
     AC_HELP_STRING([--disable-unversioned-modules],
diff --git a/lib/libpam/openpam_log.c b/lib/libpam/openpam_log.c
index e0e9ed5..e7d832c 100644
--- a/lib/libpam/openpam_log.c
+++ b/lib/libpam/openpam_log.c
@@ -50,11 +50,7 @@
 #include "openpam_impl.h"
 #include "openpam_asprintf.h"
 
-#ifdef OPENPAM_DEBUG
-int openpam_debug = 1;
-#else
 int openpam_debug = 0;
-#endif
 
 #if !defined(openpam_log)