@@ -117,10 +117,13 @@
 		if test ! "$output" -ot "$src"; then
 			return
 		fi 
 	fi
-	          $m4 $macro_compile_env -I "$gen" $flags "$src"  > "$output"
-	announce  $m4 $macro_compile_env -I "$gen" $flags "$src" \> "$output"
+	if test "$debug" = yes; then
+		local dflag=-Dcompile_debug=yes
+	fi
+	         $m4 $macro_compile_env $dflag -I "$gen" $flags "$src"  > "$output"
+	announce $m4 $macro_compile_env $dflag -I "$gen" $flags "$src" \> "$output"
 	# yes, this is incredibly stupid. if you know a better way, feel
 	# free to submit a fix. the problem is there's no way to pass >
 	# to report in such a way that it'll do the right thing, and if
 	# you just write > it redirects *report's* output, instead of
@@ -135,9 +138,12 @@
 		if test ! "$output" -ot "$src"; then
 			return
 		fi
 	fi
-	report $asm $flags "-f$bin_fmt" -i "$gen" "$src" -o "$output";
+	if test "$debug" = yes; then
+		local dflag="-g dwarf2"
+	fi
+	report $asm $flags $dflag "-f$bin_fmt" -i "$gen" "$src" -o "$output";
 }
 comp_co()  { comp_c $1 $2 "-c -fPIC"; }
 comp_c(){
 	local src=$1
@@ -148,9 +154,14 @@
 			return
 		fi
 	fi
 	# only rebuild the file if the source file is newer
-	report $cc $src $3 -std=c11 -isystem "$to" -isystem "$gen" -isystem "arch/" -nostdlib "-L$to" "-o$output"
+	if test "$debug" = yes; then
+		local dflag="-g"
+	else
+		local dflag="-O4"
+	fi
+	report $cc $src $3 $dflag -std=c11 -isystem "$to" -isystem "$gen" -isystem "arch/" -ffreestanding -nostdlib "-L$to" "-o$output"
 }
 
 say "commencing libk build $build at $(timestamp)"
 # set -x