diff --git a/poky/meta/classes/meson.bbclass b/poky/meta/classes/meson.bbclass
index 2beed89..e124d18 100644
--- a/poky/meta/classes/meson.bbclass
+++ b/poky/meta/classes/meson.bbclass
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@
 def noprefix(var, d):
     return d.getVar(var).replace(d.getVar('prefix') + '/', '', 1)
 
-MESON_BUILDTYPE ?= "plain"
+MESON_BUILDTYPE ?= "${@oe.utils.vartrue('DEBUG_BUILD', 'debug', 'plain', d)}"
+MESON_BUILDTYPE[vardeps] += "DEBUG_BUILD"
 MESONOPTS = " --prefix ${prefix} \
               --buildtype ${MESON_BUILDTYPE} \
               --bindir ${@noprefix('bindir', d)} \