diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index db0d1589c6d..b497bd5bfe2 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -26,6 +26,12 @@ Library
   argument which, if set to True, will pass messages to handlers taking handler
   levels into account.
 
+Build
+-----
+
+- Issue #23445: pydebug builds now use "gcc -Og" where possible, to make
+  the resulting executable faster.
+
 
 What's New in Python 3.5 alpha 1?
 =================================
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index ecefde4cfb9..35a31bb991d 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -6338,7 +6338,11 @@ then
 	    if test "$Py_DEBUG" = 'true' ; then
 		# Optimization messes up debuggers, so turn it off for
 		# debug builds.
-		OPT="-g -O0 -Wall $STRICT_PROTO"
+                if "$CC" -v --help 2>/dev/null |grep -- -Og > /dev/null; then
+                    OPT="-g -Og -Wall $STRICT_PROTO"
+                else
+                    OPT="-g -O0 -Wall $STRICT_PROTO"
+                fi
 	    else
 		OPT="-g $WRAP -O3 -Wall $STRICT_PROTO"
 	    fi
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index c7516225faf..a2c5eb46320 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1128,7 +1128,11 @@ then
 	    if test "$Py_DEBUG" = 'true' ; then
 		# Optimization messes up debuggers, so turn it off for
 		# debug builds.
-		OPT="-g -O0 -Wall $STRICT_PROTO"
+                if "$CC" -v --help 2>/dev/null |grep -- -Og > /dev/null; then
+                    OPT="-g -Og -Wall $STRICT_PROTO"
+                else
+                    OPT="-g -O0 -Wall $STRICT_PROTO"
+                fi
 	    else
 		OPT="-g $WRAP -O3 -Wall $STRICT_PROTO"
 	    fi