diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 3255c719..6f28e2c9 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -74,4 +74,5 @@ help:
   make install      create raspi kernel and mount it on a bootable partition\n\
   make prepare-fs   create directories for the filesystem\n\n"\
   \n\
-  Use 'make V=1' for verbose build output.
+  Use 'make V=1' for verbose build output.\n\
+  Use 'make RELEASE=1' for optimized release build (currently broken).
diff --git a/common.mk b/common.mk
index 676b839e..c4ae8b5c 100644
--- a/common.mk
+++ b/common.mk
@@ -6,10 +6,16 @@ AR         := $(ARCH)-ar
 OBJCOPY    := $(ARCH)-objcopy
 
 COMMON_FLAGS  ?= -ffreestanding -nostdlib -fno-exceptions -fno-unwind-tables \
-                 -fno-asynchronous-unwind-tables -g -O0 -Wall -Wextra \
+                 -fno-asynchronous-unwind-tables -Wall -Wextra \
                  -Wno-unused-parameter -Wno-address-of-packed-member \
                  -mcpu=cortex-a72
 
+ifeq ($(RELEASE), 1)
+  COMMON_FLAGS += -O3 -s -DNDEBUG
+else
+  COMMON_FLAGS += -O0 -g
+endif
+
 CFLAGS_BASE   ?= $(COMMON_FLAGS) -std=c17
 CXXFLAGS_BASE ?= $(COMMON_FLAGS) -fno-rtti
 LDFLAGS_BASE  ?=