diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 9f780720a22e..5ba88436b41e 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -637,8 +637,11 @@ $(ROCKSDB_DIR)/Makefile: $(C_DEPS_DIR)/rocksdb-rebuild | bin/.submodules-initial
 	mkdir -p $(ROCKSDB_DIR)
 	@# NOTE: If you change the CMake flags below, bump the version in
 	@# $(C_DEPS_DIR)/rocksdb-rebuild. See above for rationale.
+	@#
+	@# NOTE 2: We pass PORTABLE=ON to RocksDB in order to disable usage of -march=native which can
+	@# create non-portable binaries that die with "illegal instruction" when run on some x86 CPUs.
 	cd $(ROCKSDB_DIR) && CFLAGS+=" $(sse)" && CXXFLAGS+=" $(sse)" && cmake $(xcmake-flags) $(ROCKSDB_SRC_DIR) \
-	  $(if $(findstring release,$(BUILDTYPE)),-DPORTABLE=ON) -DWITH_GFLAGS=OFF \
+	  -DPORTABLE=ON -DWITH_GFLAGS=OFF \
 	  -DSNAPPY_LIBRARIES=$(LIBSNAPPY) -DSNAPPY_INCLUDE_DIR="$(SNAPPY_SRC_DIR);$(SNAPPY_DIR)" -DWITH_SNAPPY=ON \
 	  $(if $(use-stdmalloc),,-DJEMALLOC_LIBRARIES=$(LIBJEMALLOC) -DJEMALLOC_INCLUDE_DIR=$(JEMALLOC_DIR)/include -DWITH_JEMALLOC=ON) \
 	  -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=$(if $(ENABLE_ROCKSDB_ASSERTIONS),Debug,Release) \