diff --git a/meta/recipes-sato/webkit/webkitgtk_2.44.3.bb b/meta/recipes-sato/webkit/webkitgtk_2.44.3.bb
index 90fb7a1d42..a8f825e164 100644
--- a/meta/recipes-sato/webkit/webkitgtk_2.44.3.bb
+++ b/meta/recipes-sato/webkit/webkitgtk_2.44.3.bb
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ EXTRA_OECMAKE = " \
 
 # 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"
+DEBUG_FLAGS:append = "${@oe.utils.vartrue('DEBUG_BUILD', '', ' -g1', d)}"
 
 # Javascript JIT is not supported on ARC
 EXTRA_OECMAKE:append:arc = " -DENABLE_JIT=OFF "