diff --git a/meta/recipes-devtools/rust/libstd-rs.inc b/meta/recipes-devtools/rust/libstd-rs.inc
index 987956344a..96eaa2bdc0 100644
--- a/meta/recipes-devtools/rust/libstd-rs.inc
+++ b/meta/recipes-devtools/rust/libstd-rs.inc
@@ -19,9 +19,12 @@ RUSTFLAGS += "-L ${STAGING_LIBDIR} -C link-arg=-Wl,-soname,libstd.so"
 
 S = "${RUSTSRC}/src/libstd"
 
+CARGO_BUILD_FLAGS:append = "${@' --release' if d.getVar('DEBUG_BUILD') == '1' else ''}"
+
 CARGO_FEATURES ?= "panic-unwind backtrace"
 CARGO_BUILD_FLAGS += "--features '${CARGO_FEATURES}'"
 CARGO_VENDORING_DIRECTORY = "${RUSTSRC}/vendor"
+BUILD_DIR = "release"
 
 do_compile:prepend () {
     export CARGO_TARGET_DIR="${B}"