diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index b989c664b1..c746776208 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -782,17 +782,21 @@ substs.set('DEBUGTTY', get_option('debug-tty'))
 
 enable_debug_hashmap = false
 enable_debug_mmap_cache = false
+enable_debug_udev = false
 foreach name : get_option('debug-extra')
         if name == 'hashmap'
                 enable_debug_hashmap = true
         elif name == 'mmap-cache'
                 enable_debug_mmap_cache = true
+        elif name == 'udev'
+                enable_debug_udev = true
         else
                 message('unknown debug option "@0@", ignoring'.format(name))
         endif
 endforeach
 conf.set10('ENABLE_DEBUG_HASHMAP', enable_debug_hashmap)
 conf.set10('ENABLE_DEBUG_MMAP_CACHE', enable_debug_mmap_cache)
+conf.set10('ENABLE_DEBUG_UDEV', enable_debug_udev)
 
 conf.set10('VALGRIND', get_option('valgrind'))
 conf.set10('LOG_TRACE', get_option('log-trace'))
@@ -3128,6 +3132,7 @@ foreach tuple : [
         ['gshadow'],
         ['debug hashmap'],
         ['debug mmap cache'],
+        ['debug udev'],
         ['valgrind',         conf.get('VALGRIND') == 1],
         ['trace logging',    conf.get('LOG_TRACE') == 1],
         ['link-udev-shared',      get_option('link-udev-shared')],
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index b5a20fb0e2..0e99682014 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ option('debug-shell', type : 'string', value : '/bin/sh',
        description : 'path to debug shell binary')
 option('debug-tty', type : 'string', value : '/dev/tty9',
        description : 'specify the tty device for debug shell')
-option('debug-extra', type : 'array', choices : ['hashmap', 'mmap-cache'], value : [],
+option('debug-extra', type : 'array', choices : ['hashmap', 'mmap-cache', 'udev'], value : [],
        description : 'enable extra debugging')
 option('memory-accounting-default', type : 'boolean',
        description : 'enable MemoryAccounting= by default')
diff --git a/src/udev/udev-rules.c b/src/udev/udev-rules.c
index c3d492a999..23519daca6 100644
--- a/src/udev/udev-rules.c
+++ b/src/udev/udev-rules.c
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ struct rule_tmp {
         unsigned token_cur;
 };
 
-#ifdef DEBUG
+#if ENABLE_DEBUG_UDEV
 static const char *operation_str(enum operation_type type) {
         static const char *operation_strs[] = {
                 [OP_UNSET] =            "UNSET",
@@ -442,7 +442,7 @@ static void dump_rules(struct udev_rules *rules) {
 #else
 static inline void dump_token(struct udev_rules *rules, struct token *token) {}
 static inline void dump_rules(struct udev_rules *rules) {}
-#endif /* DEBUG */
+#endif /* ENABLE_DEBUG_UDEV */
 
 static int add_token(struct udev_rules *rules, struct token *token) {
         /* grow buffer if needed */