diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 7946f4fd..58795a78 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -460,7 +460,10 @@ AS_IF([test x$enable_experimental_api = xyes],
 )
 AM_CONDITIONAL([ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_API],[test x$enable_experimental_api = xyes])
 AM_CONDITIONAL([BUILDOPT_IS_DEVEL_BUILD],[test x$is_release_build != xyes])
-AM_COND_IF([BUILDOPT_IS_DEVEL_BUILD], release_build_type=devel, release_build_type=release)
+AM_COND_IF([BUILDOPT_IS_DEVEL_BUILD],
+            AC_DEFINE([BUILDOPT_IS_DEVEL_BUILD], [1], [Define if doing a development build])
+            release_build_type=devel,
+            release_build_type=release)
 
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([
 Makefile
diff --git a/src/ostree/ot-main.c b/src/ostree/ot-main.c
index 9aca8287..40d77f5f 100644
--- a/src/ostree/ot-main.c
+++ b/src/ostree/ot-main.c
@@ -242,6 +242,9 @@ ostree_option_context_parse (GOptionContext *context,
       g_print (" Version: %s\n", PACKAGE_VERSION);
       if (strlen (OSTREE_GITREV) > 0)
         g_print (" Git: %s\n", OSTREE_GITREV);
+#ifdef BUILDOPT_IS_DEVEL_BUILD
+      g_print (" DevelBuild: yes\n");
+#endif
       g_print (" Features:\n");
       for (char **iter = features; iter && *iter; iter++)
         g_print ("  - %s\n", *iter);
diff --git a/tests/test-symbols.sh b/tests/test-symbols.sh
index d22231d0..3f627304 100755
--- a/tests/test-symbols.sh
+++ b/tests/test-symbols.sh
@@ -22,7 +22,11 @@ set -xeuo pipefail
 echo '1..3'
 
 released_syms=${G_TEST_SRCDIR}/src/libostree/libostree-released.sym
-devel_syms=${G_TEST_SRCDIR}/src/libostree/libostree-devel.sym
+if echo "$OSTREE_FEATURES" | grep --quiet --no-messages "DevelBuild"; then
+    devel_syms=${G_TEST_SRCDIR}/src/libostree/libostree-devel.sym
+else
+    devel_syms=
+fi
 if echo "$OSTREE_FEATURES" | grep --quiet --no-messages "experimental"; then
   experimental_sym="${G_TEST_SRCDIR}/src/libostree/libostree-experimental.sym"
   experimental_sections="${G_TEST_SRCDIR}/apidoc/ostree-experimental-sections.txt"