diff --git a/meta/conf/distro/include/yocto-space-optimize.inc b/meta/conf/distro/include/yocto-space-optimize.inc
index b83ba426e7..9e092df32a 100644
--- a/meta/conf/distro/include/yocto-space-optimize.inc
+++ b/meta/conf/distro/include/yocto-space-optimize.inc
@@ -8,3 +8,6 @@ DEBUG_LEVELFLAG:pn-clang-native = ""
 DEBUG_LEVELFLAG:pn-nativesdk-clang = ""
 # With -g, qemu workdir is 10GB, qemu-dbg is 363MB
 DEBUG_LEVELFLAG:pn-qemu = ""
+# Pass -g1 to massively reduce the size of the
+# debug symbols (4.3GB to 700M at time of writing)
+DEBUG_LEVELFLAG:pn-webkitgtk = "-g1"
diff --git a/meta/recipes-sato/webkit/webkitgtk_2.48.5.bb b/meta/recipes-sato/webkit/webkitgtk_2.48.5.bb
index 35b8ee2a90..46031322b9 100644
--- a/meta/recipes-sato/webkit/webkitgtk_2.48.5.bb
+++ b/meta/recipes-sato/webkit/webkitgtk_2.48.5.bb
@@ -98,10 +98,6 @@ EXTRA_OECMAKE = " \
                  -DENABLE_RELEASE_LOG=ON \
                  "
 
-# Unless DEBUG_BUILD is enabled, pass -g1 to massively reduce the size of the
-# debug symbols (4.3GB to 700M at time of writing)
-DEBUG_LEVELFLAG = "-g1"
-
 # Javascript JIT is not supported on ARC
 EXTRA_OECMAKE:append:arc = " -DENABLE_JIT=OFF "
 # By default 25-bit "medium" calls are used on ARC