diff --git a/include/mimalloc-internal.h b/include/mimalloc-internal.h
index 6b38348c..90b5a56f 100644
--- a/include/mimalloc-internal.h
+++ b/include/mimalloc-internal.h
@@ -753,11 +753,7 @@ static inline uintptr_t _mi_thread_id(void) mi_attr_noexcept {
 // The big preprocessor macros that follow emit the 5 declarations with default
 // implementations for the first 4 versions so only the 5th needs to be implemented.
 // -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-#ifdef NDEBUG
-#define MI_DEBUG_ONLY(x)
-#else
-#define MI_DEBUG_ONLY(x)  x
-#endif
+#define MI_DEBUG_ONLY(x)  x  // we still allow dbg entry points in release mode to enable linking with a release build
 
 #define MI_ALLOC_API1(tp,name,tp0,arg0,tp1,arg1) \
    static tp mi_base_##name(tp0 arg0, tp1 arg1  MI_SOURCE_XPARAM) mi_attr_noexcept; \
diff --git a/include/mimalloc.h b/include/mimalloc.h
index 2d83bc18..18e2665f 100644
--- a/include/mimalloc.h
+++ b/include/mimalloc.h
@@ -95,24 +95,24 @@ extern "C" {
 
 // -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Debugging
-// The debug build declares two entry points for each allocation function:
+// We declare two entry points for each allocation function:
 // the normal one (`mi_malloc`) and one that takes a source argument (`dbg_mi_malloc`)
 // The following macros make it easier to specify this.
+// Note: these are even defined in release mode (where the source argument is ignored)
+// so one can still build a debug program that links with the release build of mimalloc.
 // -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-#if defined(NDEBUG)
-#define mi_export_alloc(decls,tp,name,attrs,...)  decls mi_decl_export tp name(__VA_ARGS__) attrs   // release mode has just one entry point
-#else
 typedef struct mi_source_s {
   long long src; // packed encoding of the source location.
 } mi_source_t;
+
 mi_decl_export mi_source_t  mi_source_ret(void* return_address);
 mi_decl_export mi_source_t  mi_source_loc(const char* fname, int lineno);
 mi_decl_export void*        mi_source_unpack(mi_source_t source, const char** fname, int* lineno);
+
 #define mi_export_alloc(decls,tp,name,attrs,...) \
   decls mi_decl_export tp dbg_##name( __VA_ARGS__, mi_source_t dbg_source) attrs; \
   decls mi_decl_export tp name(__VA_ARGS__) attrs
-#endif
 
 #define mi_export_malloc(tp,name,...)  mi_export_alloc(mi_decl_nodiscard, mi_decl_restrict tp, name, mi_attr_noexcept mi_attr_malloc, __VA_ARGS__)
 #define mi_export_realloc(tp,name,...) mi_export_alloc(mi_decl_nodiscard, tp, name, mi_attr_noexcept, __VA_ARGS__)
diff --git a/src/static.c b/src/static.c
index 1a99d243..b7377114 100644
--- a/src/static.c
+++ b/src/static.c
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ terms of the MIT license. A copy of the license can be found in the file
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
 #define _DEFAULT_SOURCE
 
-#define  MI_NO_SOURCE_DEBUG
+#define  MI_DEBUG_NO_SOURCE_LOC
 #include "mimalloc.h"
 #include "mimalloc-internal.h"
 
diff --git a/test/main-override.cpp b/test/main-override.cpp
index 51eaefd2..fafc4750 100644
--- a/test/main-override.cpp
+++ b/test/main-override.cpp
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@
 #include <mimalloc.h>
 #include <mimalloc-new-delete.h>
 #include <mimalloc-override.h>
-#include <crtdbg.h>
 
 #ifdef _WIN32
 #include <windows.h>