diff --git a/src/BeastConfig.h b/src/BeastConfig.h
index 7c6fd1920..2e0dc00cd 100644
--- a/src/BeastConfig.h
+++ b/src/BeastConfig.h
@@ -107,6 +107,13 @@
 #define BEAST_ZLIB_INCLUDE_PATH <zlib.h>
 #endif
 
+/** Config: BEAST_SQLITE_FORCE_NDEBUG
+    Setting this option forces sqlite into release mode even if NDEBUG is not set
+*/
+#ifndef BEAST_SQLITE_FORCE_NDEBUG
+#define BEAST_SQLITE_FORCE_NDEBUG 1
+#endif
+
 //------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 //
 // Boost
diff --git a/src/ripple/rocksdb/ripple_rocksdb.cpp b/src/ripple/rocksdb/ripple_rocksdb.cpp
index 38e6f061e..2a7357518 100644
--- a/src/ripple/rocksdb/ripple_rocksdb.cpp
+++ b/src/ripple/rocksdb/ripple_rocksdb.cpp
@@ -43,6 +43,11 @@
 # pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wunused-but-set-variable"
 #endif
 
+// Compile RocksDB without debugging unless specifically requested
+#if !defined (NDEBUG) && !defined (RIPPLE_DEBUG_ROCKSDB)
+#define NDEBUG
+#endif
+
 #include "rocksdb/db/builder.cc"
 #include "rocksdb/db/db_filesnapshot.cc"
 #include "rocksdb/db/dbformat.cc"
diff --git a/src/ripple_hyperleveldb/ripple_hyperleveldb.cpp b/src/ripple_hyperleveldb/ripple_hyperleveldb.cpp
index fc746f102..c6317e4cb 100644
--- a/src/ripple_hyperleveldb/ripple_hyperleveldb.cpp
+++ b/src/ripple_hyperleveldb/ripple_hyperleveldb.cpp
@@ -51,6 +51,11 @@
 #pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wunused-but-set-variable"
 #endif
 
+// Compile HyperLevelDB without debugging unless specifically requested
+#if !defined (NDEBUG) && !defined (RIPPLE_DEBUG_HYPERLEVELDB)
+#define NDEBUG
+#endif
+
 #include "hyperleveldb/db/builder.cc"
 #include "hyperleveldb/db/db_impl.cc"
 #include "hyperleveldb/db/db_iter.cc"