diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 04e3fc7a..2d261bc7 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ CXX	?= g++
 LD	?= ld
 CFLAGS	?= -O2 -g3 -Wall -Werror -Wextra -ffunction-sections -fPIC -fvisibility=hidden
 
-XCFLAGS	?= -DNDEBUG=1 -DMDBX_DEBUG=0 -DLIBMDBX_EXPORTS=1
+XCFLAGS	?= -DNDEBUG=1 -DLIBMDBX_EXPORTS=1
 CFLAGS	+= -D_GNU_SOURCE=1 -std=gnu11 -pthread $(XCFLAGS)
 CXXFLAGS = -std=c++11 $(filter-out -std=gnu11,$(CFLAGS))
 TESTDB	?= $(shell [ -d /dev/shm ] && echo /dev/shm || echo /tmp)/mdbx-test.db
diff --git a/dll.vcxproj b/dll.vcxproj
index c0743890..5464c158 100644
--- a/dll.vcxproj
+++ b/dll.vcxproj
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@
   </PropertyGroup>
   <ItemDefinitionGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|Win32'">
     <ClCompile>
-      <PreprocessorDefinitions>WIN32;_DEBUG;_WINDOWS;_USRDLL;LIBMDBX_EXPORTS;MDBX_BUILD_DLL;MDBX_AVOID_CRT;%(PreprocessorDefinitions);MDBX_DEBUG=1</PreprocessorDefinitions>
+      <PreprocessorDefinitions>WIN32;_DEBUG;_WINDOWS;_USRDLL;LIBMDBX_EXPORTS;MDBX_BUILD_DLL;MDBX_AVOID_CRT;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
       <RuntimeLibrary>MultiThreadedDebugDLL</RuntimeLibrary>
       <WarningLevel>EnableAllWarnings</WarningLevel>
       <DebugInformationFormat>ProgramDatabase</DebugInformationFormat>
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@
   <ItemDefinitionGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|x64'">
     <ClCompile>
       <WarningLevel>EnableAllWarnings</WarningLevel>
-      <PreprocessorDefinitions>WIN64;_DEBUG;_WINDOWS;_USRDLL;LIBMDBX_EXPORTS;MDBX_BUILD_DLL;MDBX_AVOID_CRT;%(PreprocessorDefinitions);MDBX_DEBUG=1</PreprocessorDefinitions>
+      <PreprocessorDefinitions>WIN64;_DEBUG;_WINDOWS;_USRDLL;LIBMDBX_EXPORTS;MDBX_BUILD_DLL;MDBX_AVOID_CRT;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
       <RuntimeLibrary>MultiThreadedDebugDLL</RuntimeLibrary>
       <StringPooling>true</StringPooling>
       <TreatWarningAsError>true</TreatWarningAsError>
diff --git a/src/bits.h b/src/bits.h
index 6163f5ad..8657ae47 100644
--- a/src/bits.h
+++ b/src/bits.h
@@ -15,10 +15,16 @@
 /* *INDENT-OFF* */
 /* clang-format off */
 
+/* In case the MDBX_DEBUG is undefined set it corresponding to NDEBUG */
 #ifndef MDBX_DEBUG
+#ifdef NDEBUG
 #   define MDBX_DEBUG 0
+#else
+#   define MDBX_DEBUG 1
+#endif
 #endif
 
+/* Undefine the NDEBUG if debugging is enforced by MDBX_DEBUG */
 #if MDBX_DEBUG
 #   undef NDEBUG
 #endif