configure.ac | 10 ++++++++++
 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+)

diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 67599c0..52fb9f6 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -71,6 +71,16 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE(xpdf-headers,
               enable_xpdf_headers="no")
 AM_CONDITIONAL(ENABLE_XPDF_HEADERS, test x$enable_xpdf_headers = xyes)
 
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(assert,
+              AC_HELP_STRING([--disable-assert],
+                             [Disable run time assertion checks]),
+              enable_assert=$enableval,
+              enable_assert="yes")
+
+if test x"$enable_assert" = xno; then
+    CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS -DNDEBUG"
+fi
+
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(single-precision,
 [  --enable-single-precision     use single precision arithmetic (instead of double precision) in the Splash backend],
 AC_DEFINE(USE_FLOAT,      [1], [Use single precision arithmetic in the Splash backend]))