diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 390af2f731e3..d7c89d881d6d 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -423,6 +423,8 @@ let
     { deps = [ pkgs.lcov pkgs.enableGCOVInstrumentation ]; }
     ../build-support/setup-hooks/make-coverage-analysis-report.sh;
 
+  # intended to be used like nix-build -E 'with <nixpkgs> {}; enableDebugging fooPackage'
+  enableDebugging = pkg : pkg.override { stdenv = stdenvAdapters.keepDebugInfo pkg.stdenv; };
 
   ### TOOLS