diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index f0b9df3ebb625694a795dc6c41e065e58aa716fa..c9cc82b411b81f84346c78f6cffd91ab3c4be2f5 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ dnl set default debugging flags, but allow for user-override
 dnl
 if test -z "${ALBERTA_DEBUG_CFLAGS}"; then
 	if test "$GCC" = yes; then
-		ALBERTA_DEBUG_CFLAGS="-O0 -g3 -gdwarf-2 -fno-inline -fno-builtin"
+		ALBERTA_DEBUG_CFLAGS="-Wall -O0 -g3 -ggdb -fno-inline -fno-builtin"
 	else
 		ALBERTA_DEBUG_CFLAGS="-g"
 	fi
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ dnl code.
 dnl
 if test -z "${ALBERTA_OPTIMIZE_CFLAGS}"; then
 	if test "$GCC" = yes; then
-		ALBERTA_OPTIMIZE_CFLAGS="-O3 -g"
+		ALBERTA_OPTIMIZE_CFLAGS="-Wall -O3 -g3 -ggdb"
 	else
 		ALBERTA_OPTIMIZE_CFLAGS="-O"
 	fi