diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 708928e9..25bb0b9c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -71,15 +71,17 @@ jobs:
 
           export CC="${{ matrix.cc }}"
           export CFLAGS="-DNL_MORE_ASSERTS=1000 -O2 -Werror -Wall -Wdeclaration-after-statement -Wvla -std=gnu11 -fexceptions"
+          CONFIGURE_ARGS=
           if [ "$CC" = "clang" ]; then
                   CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -Wno-error=unused-command-line-argument -Wno-error=unused-function"
                   export LDFLAGS="-Wl,--no-undefined-version,--fatal-warnings"
+                  CONFIGURE_ARGS="--enable-debug=no"
           else
                   export LDFLAGS="-Wl,--no-undefined-version"
           fi
 
           ./autogen.sh
-          ./configure
+          ./configure $CONFIGURE_ARGS
           make -j 5
         shell: bash
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index bc8b3908..cce0ad0b 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -110,10 +110,13 @@ fi
 AM_CONDITIONAL([ENABLE_STATIC], [test "$enable_static" != "no"])
 
 AC_ARG_ENABLE([debug],
-	AS_HELP_STRING([--disable-debug], [Do not include debugging statements]),
-	[enable_debug="$enableval"], [enable_debug="yes"])
-if test "x$enable_debug" = "xyes"; then
+        AS_HELP_STRING([--disable-debug], [Do not include debugging statements]),
+        [enable_debug="$enableval"], [enable_debug="yes"])
+if test "$enable_debug" = "yes"; then
     AC_DEFINE([NL_DEBUG], [1], [Define to 1 to enable debugging])
+else
+    enable_debug=no
+    AC_DEFINE([NL_DEBUG], [0], [Define to 1 to enable debugging])
 fi
 
 AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS([doc])
diff --git a/include/nl-aux-core/nl-core.h b/include/nl-aux-core/nl-core.h
index 5b34bcb0..5198296f 100644
--- a/include/nl-aux-core/nl-core.h
+++ b/include/nl-aux-core/nl-core.h
@@ -5,21 +5,16 @@
 
 #include "base/nl-base-utils.h"
 
-#ifdef NL_DEBUG
 #define NL_DBG(LVL, FMT, ARG...)                                           \
 	do {                                                               \
-		if (LVL <= nl_debug) {                                     \
-			int _errsv = errno;                                \
+		if ((NL_DEBUG) && (LVL) <= nl_debug) {                     \
+			const int _errsv = errno;                          \
+                                                                           \
 			fprintf(stderr, "DBG<" #LVL ">%20s:%-4u %s: " FMT, \
 				__FILE__, __LINE__, __func__, ##ARG);      \
 			errno = _errsv;                                    \
 		}                                                          \
 	} while (0)
-#else /* NL_DEBUG */
-#define NL_DBG(LVL, FMT, ARG...) \
-	do {                     \
-	} while (0)
-#endif /* NL_DEBUG */
 
 struct nl_addr;
 void nl_addr_put(struct nl_addr *);
diff --git a/lib/cache_mngr.c b/lib/cache_mngr.c
index f16882f7..7b2a9bd3 100644
--- a/lib/cache_mngr.c
+++ b/lib/cache_mngr.c
@@ -58,10 +58,9 @@ static int include_cb(struct nl_object *obj, struct nl_parser_param *p)
 	struct nl_cache_ops *ops = ca->ca_cache->c_ops;
 
 	NL_DBG(2, "Including object %p into cache %p\n", obj, ca->ca_cache);
-#ifdef NL_DEBUG
-	if (nl_debug >= 4)
+
+	if (NL_DEBUG && nl_debug >= 4)
 		nl_object_dump(obj, &nl_debug_dp);
-#endif
 
 	if (ops->co_event_filter)
 		if (ops->co_event_filter(ca->ca_cache, obj) != NL_OK)
@@ -93,10 +92,9 @@ static int event_input(struct nl_msg *msg, void *arg)
 
 	NL_DBG(2, "Cache manager %p, handling new message %p as event\n",
 	       mngr, msg);
-#ifdef NL_DEBUG
-	if (nl_debug >= 4)
+
+	if (NL_DEBUG && nl_debug >= 4)
 		nl_msg_dump(msg, stderr);
-#endif
 
 	if (mngr->cm_protocol != protocol)
 		BUG();
diff --git a/lib/route/neigh.c b/lib/route/neigh.c
index 91500244..7e698b49 100644
--- a/lib/route/neigh.c
+++ b/lib/route/neigh.c
@@ -242,9 +242,7 @@ static void neigh_keygen(struct nl_object *obj, uint32_t *hashkey,
 		uint16_t	n_vlan;
 		char		n_addr[0];
 	} _nl_packed *nkey;
-#ifdef NL_DEBUG
 	char buf[INET6_ADDRSTRLEN+5];
-#endif
 
 	if (neigh->n_family == AF_BRIDGE) {
 		if (neigh->n_lladdr)
diff --git a/lib/route/route_obj.c b/lib/route/route_obj.c
index ce68259c..50775937 100644
--- a/lib/route/route_obj.c
+++ b/lib/route/route_obj.c
@@ -345,9 +345,7 @@ static void route_keygen(struct nl_object *obj, uint32_t *hashkey,
 		uint32_t	rt_prio;
 		char 		rt_addr[0];
 	} _nl_packed *rkey = NULL;
-#ifdef NL_DEBUG
 	char buf[INET6_ADDRSTRLEN+5];
-#endif
 
 	if (route->rt_dst)
 		addr = route->rt_dst;
@@ -502,9 +500,7 @@ static int route_update(struct nl_object *old_obj, struct nl_object *new_obj)
 	struct rtnl_route *old_route = (struct rtnl_route *) old_obj;
 	struct rtnl_nexthop *new_nh;
 	int action = new_obj->ce_msgtype;
-#ifdef NL_DEBUG
 	char buf[INET6_ADDRSTRLEN+5];
-#endif
 
 	/*
 	 * ipv6 ECMP route notifications from the kernel come as
diff --git a/lib/utils.c b/lib/utils.c
index 4f5fd1aa..471cd21a 100644
--- a/lib/utils.c
+++ b/lib/utils.c
@@ -52,7 +52,6 @@
 int nl_debug = 0;
 
 /** @cond SKIP */
-#ifdef NL_DEBUG
 struct nl_dump_params nl_debug_dp = {
 	.dp_type = NL_DUMP_DETAILS,
 };
@@ -61,7 +60,7 @@ static void _nl_init nl_debug_init(void)
 {
 	char *nldbg, *end;
 
-	if ((nldbg = getenv("NLDBG"))) {
+	if (NL_DEBUG && (nldbg = getenv("NLDBG"))) {
 		long level = strtol(nldbg, &end, 0);
 		if (nldbg != end)
 			nl_debug = level;
@@ -69,7 +68,6 @@ static void _nl_init nl_debug_init(void)
 
 	nl_debug_dp.dp_fd = stderr;
 }
-#endif
 
 int __nl_read_num_str_file(const char *path, int (*cb)(long, const char *))
 {