diff --git a/config/functions b/config/functions
index 79db72da65..5d85c3dd13 100644
--- a/config/functions
+++ b/config/functions
@@ -787,7 +787,12 @@ check_config() {
 
 # strip
 debug_strip() {
-  if [ ! "$DEBUG" = yes ]; then
+  if [ -z "${BUILD_WITH_DEBUG}" ]; then
+    echo "ERROR: debug_strip() must not be called without configuring BUILD_WITH_DEBUG" >&2
+    exit 1
+  fi
+
+  if [ "${BUILD_WITH_DEBUG}" != "yes" ]; then
     find $* -type f -executable | xargs $STRIP 2>/dev/null || :
   fi
 }