diff --git a/common/dlmalloc.c b/common/dlmalloc.c
index e9bab09..f2080c6 100644
--- a/common/dlmalloc.c
+++ b/common/dlmalloc.c
@@ -286,13 +286,6 @@ extern "C" {
 
 */
 
-#ifdef DEBUG
-#include <assert.h>
-#else
-#define assert(x) ((void)0)
-#endif
-
-
 /*
   INTERNAL_SIZE_T is the word-size used for internal bookkeeping
   of chunk sizes. On a 64-bit machine, you can reduce malloc
diff --git a/include/common.h b/include/common.h
index 1e21b7a..6181e07 100644
--- a/include/common.h
+++ b/include/common.h
@@ -124,6 +124,25 @@ typedef volatile unsigned char	vu_char;
 #define debugX(level,fmt,args...)
 #endif	/* DEBUG */
 
+#ifdef DEBUG
+# define _DEBUG 1
+#else
+# define _DEBUG 0
+#endif
+
+/*
+ * An assertion is run-time check done in debug mode only. If DEBUG is not
+ * defined then it is skipped. It does not BUG or halt U-Boot, but tries to
+ * continue execution in any case. It is hoped that all failing assertions
+ * are found before release, and after release it is hoped that they don't
+ * matter. But in any case these failing assertions cannot be fixed with a
+ * BUG-type reset (which may just do the same assertion again).
+ */
+#define assert(x)	\
+	({ if (!(x) && _DEBUG) \
+		printf("Assertion failure '%s' %s line %d\n", \
+			#x, __FILE__, __LINE__); })
+
 #define error(fmt, args...) do {					\
 		printf("ERROR: " fmt "\nat %s:%d/%s()\n",		\
 			##args, __FILE__, __LINE__, __func__);		\
diff --git a/include/malloc.h b/include/malloc.h
index 3e145ad..ecf3c67 100644
--- a/include/malloc.h
+++ b/include/malloc.h
@@ -285,14 +285,6 @@ extern "C" {
 
 */
 
-#ifdef DEBUG
-/* #include <assert.h> */
-#define assert(x) ((void)0)
-#else
-#define assert(x) ((void)0)
-#endif
-
-
 /*
   INTERNAL_SIZE_T is the word-size used for internal bookkeeping
   of chunk sizes. On a 64-bit machine, you can reduce malloc
diff --git a/lib/qsort.c b/lib/qsort.c
index 1cc0d31..86c392c 100644
--- a/lib/qsort.c
+++ b/lib/qsort.c
@@ -17,11 +17,6 @@
 
 #include <linux/types.h>
 #include <exports.h>
-#if 0
-#include <assert.h>
-#else
-#define assert(arg)
-#endif
 
 void qsort(void  *base,
 	   size_t nel,