diff --git a/conf/config.py b/conf/config.py
index 32a5408b..bddd1dc4 100644
--- a/conf/config.py
+++ b/conf/config.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ dbdir = path.abspath(path.join(confdir, '..')) if confdir.endswith('conf') \
 
 
 class BaseConfiguration(object):
+    DEBUG = False
     # Make this random (used to generate session keys)
     SECRET_KEY = '74d9e9f9cd40e66fc6c4c2e9987dce48df3ce98542529fd0'
     SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI = 'sqlite:///{0}'.format(path.join(
@@ -84,6 +85,7 @@ class BaseConfiguration(object):
 
 
 class DevConfiguration(BaseConfiguration):
+    DEBUG = True
     LOG_BACKEND = 'console'
     LOG_LEVEL = 'debug'
 
@@ -124,6 +126,7 @@ class DevConfiguration(BaseConfiguration):
     KOJI_CONFIG = path.join(confdir, 'koji.conf')
     COPR_CONFIG = path.join(confdir, 'copr.conf')
 
+
 class TestConfiguration(BaseConfiguration):
     LOG_BACKEND = 'console'
     LOG_LEVEL = 'debug'
diff --git a/module_build_service/config.py b/module_build_service/config.py
index defb5a67..0568b459 100644
--- a/module_build_service/config.py
+++ b/module_build_service/config.py
@@ -52,7 +52,8 @@ def _init_app_config(app):
     if any(['nosetests' in arg for arg in sys.argv]):
         app.config.from_object('%s.TestConfiguration' % conf_module)
     elif 'MODULE_BUILD_SERVICE_DEVELOPER_ENV' in os.environ and \
-         os.environ['MODULE_BUILD_SERVICE_DEVELOPER_ENV']:
+         os.environ['MODULE_BUILD_SERVICE_DEVELOPER_ENV'].lower() in (
+            '1', 'on', 'true', 'y', 'yes'):
         app.config.from_object('%s.DevConfiguration' % conf_module)
     elif here not in ('/usr/bin', '/bin', '/usr/local/bin'):
         app.config.from_object('%s.DevConfiguration' % conf_module)
@@ -63,6 +64,10 @@ def _init_app_config(app):
 class Config(object):
     """Class representing the orchestrator configuration."""
     _defaults = {
+        'debug': {
+            'type': bool,
+            'default': False,
+            'desc': 'Debug mode'},
         'system': {
             'type': str,
             'default': 'koji',