diff --git a/src/cf/osconf.m4 b/src/cf/osconf.m4
index d5f42e8d8c..93b415850c 100644
--- a/src/cf/osconf.m4
+++ b/src/cf/osconf.m4
@@ -665,6 +665,12 @@ case $AFS_SYSNAME in
 		AC_SUBST(install_XFS_SIZE_CHECK)
 		AC_SUBST(dest_XFS_SIZE_CHECK)
 	;;
+	*_fbsd_*)
+		if test "x$enable_debug_kernel" = "xyes"; then
+			DEBUG_FLAGS=-g
+			AC_SUBST(DEBUG_FLAGS)
+		fi
+	;;
 esac
 
 dnl Disable the default for debugging/optimization if not enabled
diff --git a/src/libafs/MakefileProto.FBSD.in b/src/libafs/MakefileProto.FBSD.in
index 9ba0954261..227fe1b564 100644
--- a/src/libafs/MakefileProto.FBSD.in
+++ b/src/libafs/MakefileProto.FBSD.in
@@ -46,6 +46,9 @@ AFS_OS_NONFSOBJS = \
 KSRC = @BSD_KERNEL_PATH@
 KBLD = @BSD_KERNEL_BUILD@
 
+# keep symbols if --enable-debug-kernel
+DEBUG_FLAGS = @DEBUG_FLAGS@
+
 # We are not doing very well (WARNS=2 brings in printf format type checking)
 WARNS= 1
 # We have some sketchy code that redeclares prototypes