diff --git a/jinx-config b/jinx-config
index b9309d861..daf9615ae 100644
--- a/jinx-config
+++ b/jinx-config
@@ -139,3 +139,5 @@ if [ "$in_container" = true ]; then
     mkdir -p "${VMODULES}"/cache
     mkdir -p /tmp/v_$(id -u)
 fi
+
+PROD=true
diff --git a/jinx-config-debug b/jinx-config-debug
index 3ec815c17..9ff533cc3 100644
--- a/jinx-config-debug
+++ b/jinx-config-debug
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 . ${base_dir}/jinx-config
-export VINIX_PROD=no
-export CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -g"
+
+PROD=false
+CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -g"
diff --git a/kernel/GNUmakefile b/kernel/GNUmakefile
index 9a99e7985..a1ac9084e 100644
--- a/kernel/GNUmakefile
+++ b/kernel/GNUmakefile
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ $(call USER_VARIABLE,VFLAGS,)
 # User controllable linker flags. We set none by default.
 $(call USER_VARIABLE,LDFLAGS,)
 
-$(call USER_VARIABLE,VINIX_PROD,)
+$(call USER_VARIABLE,PROD,)
 
 # Ensure the dependencies have been obtained.
 ifneq ($(shell ( test '$(MAKECMDGOALS)' = clean || test '$(MAKECMDGOALS)' = distclean ); echo $$?),0)
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ override VFLAGS += \
     -gc none \
     -d no_backtrace
 
-ifeq ($(VINIX_PROD),no)
+ifeq ($(PROD),false)
     override VFLAGS += -warn-about-allocs
 else
     override VFLAGS += -prod
diff --git a/recipes/kernel b/recipes/kernel
index a3e7d5f7a..168635c58 100644
--- a/recipes/kernel
+++ b/recipes/kernel
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ build() {
     cp -rpf "${source_dir}"/. ./
 
     make -j${parallelism} \
+        PROD="$PROD" \
         CC=${OS_TRIPLET}-gcc \
         LD=${OS_TRIPLET}-ld \
         AR=${OS_TRIPLET}-ar \
diff --git a/recipes/util-vinix b/recipes/util-vinix
index cc4439e9a..73fd2b578 100644
--- a/recipes/util-vinix
+++ b/recipes/util-vinix
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ build() {
     cp -rp "${source_dir}"/. ./
 
     make -j${parallelism} \
+        PROD="$PROD" \
         CC=${OS_TRIPLET}-gcc \
         VFLAGS="-os vinix -gc none" \
         CFLAGS="$TARGET_CFLAGS" \
diff --git a/util-vinix/GNUmakefile b/util-vinix/GNUmakefile
index 70ace46d8..f48b00cfe 100644
--- a/util-vinix/GNUmakefile
+++ b/util-vinix/GNUmakefile
@@ -10,13 +10,6 @@ override USER_VARIABLE = $(if $(filter $(origin $(1)),default undefined),$(eval
 $(call USER_VARIABLE,CC,cc)
 $(call USER_VARIABLE,V,v)
 
-VINIX_PROD ?=
-ifeq ($(VINIX_PROD),no)
-    override PROD := false
-else
-    override PROD := true
-endif
-
 $(call USER_VARIABLE,VFLAGS,)
 $(call USER_VARIABLE,CFLAGS,-g -O2 -pipe)
 $(call USER_VARIABLE,LDFLAGS,)
@@ -24,7 +17,9 @@ $(call USER_VARIABLE,LDFLAGS,)
 $(call USER_VARIABLE,DESTDIR,)
 $(call USER_VARIABLE,PREFIX,/usr/local)
 
-ifeq ($(PROD), true)
+$(call USER_VARIABLE,PROD,)
+
+ifeq ($(PROD),true)
 	override VFLAGS += -prod
 endif