diff --git a/payloads/libpayload/Makefile.inc b/payloads/libpayload/Makefile.inc
index 45376d29e5..47f90deba3 100644
--- a/payloads/libpayload/Makefile.inc
+++ b/payloads/libpayload/Makefile.inc
@@ -53,12 +53,18 @@ subdirs-$(CONFIG_LP_CBFS) += libcbfs
 subdirs-$(CONFIG_LP_LZMA) += liblzma
 
 INCLUDES := -Iinclude -Iinclude/$(ARCHDIR-y) -I$(obj)
-CFLAGS =  $(EXTRA_CFLAGS) $(INCLUDES) -Os -pipe -nostdinc -ggdb3
+CFLAGS =  $(EXTRA_CFLAGS) $(INCLUDES) -pipe -nostdinc -ggdb3
 CFLAGS += -nostdlib -fno-builtin -ffreestanding -fomit-frame-pointer
 CFLAGS += -Wall -Wundef -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes
 CFLAGS += -Wwrite-strings -Wredundant-decls -Wno-trigraphs
 CFLAGS += -Wstrict-aliasing -Wshadow -Werror
 
+ifneq ($(GDB_DEBUG),)
+CFLAGS += -O0 -g
+else
+CFLAGS += -Os
+endif
+
 $(obj)/libpayload-config.h: $(KCONFIG_AUTOHEADER)
 	cmp $@ $< 2>/dev/null || cp $< $@