diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 5ed93ba04..702aec659 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -100,7 +100,8 @@ if not OS == "win":
 	            "-DHAVE_INCLUDE_LIBTORRENT_ASIO____ASIO_HPP=1", 
 				"-DHAVE_INCLUDE_LIBTORRENT_ASIO_SSL_STREAM_HPP=1", 
 				"-DHAVE_INCLUDE_LIBTORRENT_ASIO_IP_TCP_HPP=1", 
-				"-DHAVE_PTHREAD=1", "-DTORRENT_USE_OPENSSL=1", "-DHAVE_SSL=1"]
+				"-DHAVE_PTHREAD=1", "-DTORRENT_USE_OPENSSL=1", "-DHAVE_SSL=1", 
+                "-DNDEBUG=1"]
 	if ARCH == "x64":
 		EXTRA_COMPILE_ARGS.append("-DAMD64")