diff --git a/waf b/waf
index ce7892affe..d3936651b7 100755
Binary files a/waf and b/waf differ
diff --git a/wscript b/wscript
index b17bfdc2c2..97d33dd103 100644
--- a/wscript
+++ b/wscript
@@ -352,7 +352,7 @@ def set_compiler_flags (conf,opt):
 def options(opt):
     opt.load('compiler_c')
     opt.load('compiler_cxx')
-    autowaf.set_options(opt)
+    autowaf.set_options(opt, debug_by_default=True)
     opt.add_option('--program-name', type='string', action='store', default='Ardour', dest='program_name',
                     help='The user-visible name of the program being built')
     opt.add_option('--arch', type='string', action='store', dest='arch',
@@ -379,7 +379,6 @@ def options(opt):
     opt.add_option('--nls', action='store_true', default=True, dest='nls',
                     help='Enable i18n (native language support) (default)')
     opt.add_option('--no-nls', action='store_false', dest='nls')
-    opt.add_option('--optimize', action='store_false', dest='debug')
     opt.add_option('--phone-home', action='store_false', default=False, dest='phone_home')
     opt.add_option('--stl-debug', action='store_true', default=False, dest='stl_debug',
                     help='Build with debugging for the STL')