diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 36aa34a26b6d23d51960bf2b6bf4eb2e1c1d7327..bed642aceec3eecdb4af36b247df02d15d6b5e30 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ AC_SUBST(PKGADD_VENDOR)
 
 dnl Check for programs
 AC_PROG_CC
+SFL_CXX_WITH_DEBUG
 AC_PROG_CXX
 AC_PROG_CPP
 AC_PROG_INSTALL
diff --git a/m4/sfl-internal.m4 b/m4/sfl-internal.m4
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..d307a31e1645a9e9f6224d3433a9736090056844
--- /dev/null
+++ b/m4/sfl-internal.m4
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+AC_DEFUN([SFL_CXX_WITH_DEBUG],[
+
+	AC_ARG_WITH(debug,
+		AS_HELP_STRING(
+			[--with-debug],
+			[Set 'full' to enable debugging information @<:@default=no@:>@]
+		),
+		[with_debug=${withval}],
+		[with_debug=no]
+	)
+	if test "x$with_debug" = "xfull" -o "x$with_debug" = "xyes"; then
+		CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS -g"
+		CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS -DDEBUG"
+	fi
+])