--- a/build/autoconf/compiler-opts.m4
+++ b/build/autoconf/compiler-opts.m4
@@ -1,26 +1,16 @@
 dnl This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
 dnl License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
 dnl file, You can obtain one at http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.
 
 dnl Add compiler specific options
 
 AC_DEFUN([MOZ_DEFAULT_COMPILER],
 [
-dnl set DEVELOPER_OPTIONS early; MOZ_DEFAULT_COMPILER is usually the first non-setup directive
-  if test -z "$MOZILLA_OFFICIAL"; then
-    DEVELOPER_OPTIONS=1
-  fi
-  MOZ_ARG_ENABLE_BOOL(release,
-  [  --enable-release        Build with more conservative, release engineering-oriented options.
-                          This may slow down builds.],
-      DEVELOPER_OPTIONS=,
-      DEVELOPER_OPTIONS=1)
-
 dnl Default to MSVC for win32 and gcc-4.2 for darwin
 dnl ==============================================================
 if test -z "$CROSS_COMPILE"; then
 case "$target" in
 *-mingw*)
     if test -z "$CPP"; then CPP="$CC -E -nologo"; fi
     if test -z "$CXXCPP"; then CXXCPP="$CXX -TP -E -nologo"; ac_cv_prog_CXXCPP="$CXXCPP"; fi
     if test -z "$AS"; then

--- a/build/moz.configure/old.configure
+++ b/build/moz.configure/old.configure
@@ -208,17 +208,16 @@ def old_configure_options(*options):
     '--enable-pie',
     '--enable-png-arm-neon-support',
     '--enable-posix-nspr-emulation',
     '--enable-pref-extensions',
     '--enable-pulseaudio',
     '--enable-raw',
     '--enable-readline',
     '--enable-reflow-perf',
-    '--enable-release',
     '--enable-safe-browsing',
     '--enable-sandbox',
     '--enable-signmar',
     '--enable-simulator',
     '--enable-small-chunk-size',
     '--enable-startup-notification',
     '--enable-startupcache',
     '--enable-stdcxx-compat',

--- a/build/moz.configure/toolchain.configure
+++ b/build/moz.configure/toolchain.configure
@@ -1041,8 +1041,22 @@ def security_hardening_cflags(value, c_c
 
 add_old_configure_assignment('HARDENING_CFLAGS', security_hardening_cflags)
 imply_option('--enable-pie', depends_if('--enable-hardening')(lambda v: v))
 
 option(env='RUSTFLAGS',
        nargs=1,
        help='Rust compiler flags')
 set_config('RUSTFLAGS', depends('RUSTFLAGS')(lambda flags: flags))
+
+
+imply_option('--enable-release', mozilla_official)
+
+js_option('--enable-release',
+          help='Build with more conservative, release engineering-oriented '
+               'options. This may slow down builds.')
+
+@depends('--enable-release')
+def developer_options(value):
+    if not value:
+        return True
+
+add_old_configure_assignment('DEVELOPER_OPTIONS', developer_options)