diff --git a/xwords4/android/XWords4/build.xml b/xwords4/android/XWords4/build.xml
index d624dd234..7e3b8d2a3 100644
--- a/xwords4/android/XWords4/build.xml
+++ b/xwords4/android/XWords4/build.xml
@@ -58,8 +58,10 @@
 
     <target name="-pre-build">
         <exec dir="." executable="../scripts/ndkbuild.sh" >
+            <arg value="BUILD_TARGET=${build.target}" />
             <arg value="-j3"/>
             <arg value="INITIAL_CLIENT_VERS=${INITIAL_CLIENT_VERS}" />
+
         </exec>
         <exec dir="." executable="../scripts/gen_gcmid.sh"
               output="src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/GCMConsts.java"
diff --git a/xwords4/android/XWords4/jni/Android.mk b/xwords4/android/XWords4/jni/Android.mk
index 9e535c21b..3c94de08e 100644
--- a/xwords4/android/XWords4/jni/Android.mk
+++ b/xwords4/android/XWords4/jni/Android.mk
@@ -10,7 +10,9 @@ local_C_INCLUDES+= \
 
 local_LDLIBS += -llog
 
-# local_DEBUG = -DMEM_DEBUG -DDEBUG -DENABLE_LOGGING -DCOMMS_CHECKSUM
+ifeq ($(BUILD_TARGET),debug)
+	local_DEBUG = -DMEM_DEBUG -DDEBUG -DENABLE_LOGGING -DCOMMS_CHECKSUM
+endif
 local_DEFINES += \
 	$(local_DEBUG) \
 	-DXWFEATURE_RELAY \
@@ -79,8 +81,6 @@ common_SRC_FILES +=        \
 LOCAL_CFLAGS+=$(local_C_INCLUDES) $(local_DEFINES) -Wall
 LOCAL_SRC_FILES := $(linux_SRC_FILES) $(local_SRC_FILES) $(common_SRC_FILES)
 LOCAL_MODULE    := xwjni
-LOCAL_LDLIBS := -L${SYSROOT}/usr/lib -llog -lz 
+LOCAL_LDLIBS 	:= -L${SYSROOT}/usr/lib -llog -lz 
 
 include $(BUILD_SHARED_LIBRARY)
-
-