diff --git a/scripts/lib/devtool/standard.py b/scripts/lib/devtool/standard.py
index 05161942b7..908869cc4f 100644
--- a/scripts/lib/devtool/standard.py
+++ b/scripts/lib/devtool/standard.py
@@ -1031,6 +1031,8 @@ def modify(args, config, basepath, workspace):
                     if branch == args.branch:
                         continue
                     f.write('# patches_%s: %s\n' % (branch, ','.join(branch_patches[branch])))
+            if args.debug_build:
+                f.write('\nDEBUG_BUILD = "1"\n')
 
         update_unlockedsigs(basepath, workspace, args.fixed_setup, [pn])
 
@@ -2396,6 +2398,7 @@ def register_commands(subparsers, context):
     parser_modify.add_argument('--branch', '-b', default="devtool", help='Name for development branch to checkout (when not using -n/--no-extract) (default "%(default)s")')
     parser_modify.add_argument('--no-overrides', '-O', action="store_true", help='Do not create branches for other override configurations')
     parser_modify.add_argument('--keep-temp', help='Keep temporary directory (for debugging)', action="store_true")
+    parser_modify.add_argument('--debug-build', action="store_true", help='Add DEBUG_BUILD = "1" to the modified recipe')
     parser_modify.set_defaults(func=modify, fixed_setup=context.fixed_setup)
 
     parser_extract = subparsers.add_parser('extract', help='Extract the source for an existing recipe',