diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 7b7d8e9..2e4c459 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 /copy/
 /build/
+/build-release/
 .sconsign*
 .pydevproject
 *.kate-swp
diff --git a/SConstruct b/SConstruct
index cf81332..8d051c0 100644
--- a/SConstruct
+++ b/SConstruct
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-build_dir = ARGUMENTS.get('build_dir', 'build')
+build_dir = ARGUMENTS.get('BUILD_DIR', 'build')
 VariantDir(build_dir, 'src', duplicate = 0)
 SConscript(build_dir + '/SConstruct')
diff --git a/demo/SConstruct b/demo/SConstruct
index cf81332..8d051c0 100644
--- a/demo/SConstruct
+++ b/demo/SConstruct
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-build_dir = ARGUMENTS.get('build_dir', 'build')
+build_dir = ARGUMENTS.get('BUILD_DIR', 'build')
 VariantDir(build_dir, 'src', duplicate = 0)
 SConscript(build_dir + '/SConstruct')
diff --git a/dev-build.sh b/dev-build.sh
index d21ea79..41dad88 100755
--- a/dev-build.sh
+++ b/dev-build.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 set -e
 
-scons PREFIX=$1 install
+scons PREFIX=$1 DEBUG=1 install
+scons PREFIX=$1-release BUILD_DIR=build-release install
 cd demo
 scons
diff --git a/src/SConstruct b/src/SConstruct
index 59d2bf2..7feccb8 100644
--- a/src/SConstruct
+++ b/src/SConstruct
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ version = '0.1.0'
 
 # user options
 
+DEBUG = ARGUMENTS.get('DEBUG', 0)
+
 opts = Variables(name + '.conf')
 opts.Add(PathVariable('PREFIX', 'Directory to install under', '/usr/local', PathVariable.PathAccept))
 opts.Update(env)
@@ -21,7 +23,11 @@ libs = ['gtk+-3.0', 'glib-2.0', 'cairo', 'SDL2_mixer']
 
 # compute build options
 
-flags = ' -O0 -g -lm -Wall -fmessage-length=0 '
+flags = ' -lm -Wall -fmessage-length=0 '
+if int(DEBUG):
+	flags += ' -O0 -g '
+else:
+	flags += ' -O3 '
 
 
 # files lists
diff --git a/src/helianthus.conf b/src/helianthus.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9b61c4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/helianthus.conf
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+PREFIX = '/home/bw/opt/helianthus-release'