diff --git a/hw/scsi/mptsas.c b/hw/scsi/mptsas.c
index 8bae8f543e..d05fa9f549 100644
--- a/hw/scsi/mptsas.c
+++ b/hw/scsi/mptsas.c
@@ -1236,11 +1236,9 @@ static void *mptsas_load_request(QEMUFile *f, SCSIRequest *sreq)
     n = qemu_get_be32(f);
     /* TODO: add a way for SCSIBusInfo's load_request to fail,
      * and fail migration instead of asserting here.
-     * When we do, we might be able to re-enable NDEBUG below.
+     * This is just one thing (there are probably more) that must be
+     * fixed before we can allow NDEBUG compilation.
      */
-#ifdef NDEBUG
-#error building with NDEBUG is not supported
-#endif
     assert(n >= 0);
 
     pci_dma_sglist_init(&req->qsg, pci, n);
diff --git a/hw/virtio/virtio.c b/hw/virtio/virtio.c
index 464947f76d..3129d25c00 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/virtio.c
+++ b/hw/virtio/virtio.c
@@ -1025,11 +1025,9 @@ void *qemu_get_virtqueue_element(VirtIODevice *vdev, QEMUFile *f, size_t sz)
 
     /* TODO: teach all callers that this can fail, and return failure instead
      * of asserting here.
-     * When we do, we might be able to re-enable NDEBUG below.
+     * This is just one thing (there are probably more) that must be
+     * fixed before we can allow NDEBUG compilation.
      */
-#ifdef NDEBUG
-#error building with NDEBUG is not supported
-#endif
     assert(ARRAY_SIZE(data.in_addr) >= data.in_num);
     assert(ARRAY_SIZE(data.out_addr) >= data.out_num);
 
diff --git a/include/qemu/osdep.h b/include/qemu/osdep.h
index 6855b94bbf..99666383b2 100644
--- a/include/qemu/osdep.h
+++ b/include/qemu/osdep.h
@@ -107,6 +107,22 @@ extern int daemon(int, int);
 #include "glib-compat.h"
 #include "qemu/typedefs.h"
 
+/*
+ * We have a lot of unaudited code that may fail in strange ways, or
+ * even be a security risk during migration, if you disable assertions
+ * at compile-time.  You may comment out these safety checks if you
+ * absolutely want to disable assertion overhead, but it is not
+ * supported upstream so the risk is all yours.  Meanwhile, please
+ * submit patches to remove any side-effects inside an assertion, or
+ * fixing error handling that should use Error instead of assert.
+ */
+#ifdef NDEBUG
+#error building with NDEBUG is not supported
+#endif
+#ifdef G_DISABLE_ASSERT
+#error building with G_DISABLE_ASSERT is not supported
+#endif
+
 #ifndef O_LARGEFILE
 #define O_LARGEFILE 0
 #endif