diff --git a/config/Config-kernel.in b/config/Config-kernel.in
index ab827d6a71e..e146107148b 100644
--- a/config/Config-kernel.in
+++ b/config/Config-kernel.in
@@ -373,6 +373,20 @@ config KERNEL_DEBUG_INFO
 	help
 	  This will compile your kernel and modules with debug information.
 
+config KERNEL_DEBUG_INFO_REDUCED
+	bool "Reduce debugging information"
+	default y
+	depends on KERNEL_DEBUG_INFO
+	help
+	  If you say Y here gcc is instructed to generate less debugging
+	  information for structure types. This means that tools that
+	  need full debugging information (like kgdb or systemtap) won't
+	  be happy. But if you merely need debugging information to
+	  resolve line numbers there is no loss. Advantage is that
+	  build directory object sizes shrink dramatically over a full
+	  DEBUG_INFO build and compile times are reduced too.
+	  Only works with newer gcc versions.
+
 config KERNEL_DEBUG_LL_UART_NONE
 	bool
 	default n
diff --git a/target/linux/generic/config-5.10 b/target/linux/generic/config-5.10
index a400b63e17a..c969c8e4227 100644
--- a/target/linux/generic/config-5.10
+++ b/target/linux/generic/config-5.10
@@ -1276,7 +1276,6 @@ CONFIG_DEBUG_FS_ALLOW_ALL=y
 # CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_BTF is not set
 # CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_COMPRESSED is not set
 # CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_DWARF4 is not set
-CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_REDUCED=y
 # CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_SPLIT is not set
 CONFIG_DEBUG_KERNEL=y
 # CONFIG_DEBUG_KMEMLEAK is not set
diff --git a/target/linux/generic/config-5.15 b/target/linux/generic/config-5.15
index 93c22e38967..d53e4cc55b7 100644
--- a/target/linux/generic/config-5.15
+++ b/target/linux/generic/config-5.15
@@ -1315,7 +1315,6 @@ CONFIG_DEBUG_FS_ALLOW_ALL=y
 # CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_DWARF4 is not set
 # CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_DWARF5 is not set
 CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_DWARF_TOOLCHAIN_DEFAULT=y
-CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_REDUCED=y
 # CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_SPLIT is not set
 # CONFIG_DEBUG_IRQFLAGS is not set
 CONFIG_DEBUG_KERNEL=y