diff --git a/legacy/eina/acinclude.m4 b/legacy/eina/acinclude.m4
deleted file mode 100644
index cfc0859e6e..0000000000
--- a/legacy/eina/acinclude.m4
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,14 +0,0 @@
-m4_ifndef([AC_HEADER_ASSERT], [
-# AC_HEADER_ASSERT
-# ----------------
-# Check whether to enable assertions.
-AC_DEFUN([AC_HEADER_ASSERT],
-[
-  AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether to enable assertions])
-  AC_ARG_ENABLE([assert],
-    [  --disable-assert        turn off assertions],
-    [AC_MSG_RESULT([no])
-     AC_DEFINE(NDEBUG, 1, [Define to 1 if assertions should be disabled.])],
-    [AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)])
-])
-])
diff --git a/legacy/eina/configure.ac b/legacy/eina/configure.ac
index 19022f5aa9..0b626a72d4 100644
--- a/legacy/eina/configure.ac
+++ b/legacy/eina/configure.ac
@@ -229,6 +229,19 @@ if test "x${have_stringshare_usage}" = "xyes"; then
    AC_DEFINE(EINA_STRINGSHARE_USAGE, 1, [Report Eina stringshare usage pattern])
 fi
 
+# Assert or fail.
+
+AC_ARG_ENABLE([assert],
+   [AC_HELP_STRING([--enable-assert], [enable assert, @<:@default=no@:>@])],
+   [
+    if test "x${enableval}" = "xyes" ; then
+       prefer_assert="yes"
+    else
+       prefer_assert="no"
+    fi
+   ],
+   [prefer_assert="no"])
+
 # Check if we want to benchmark on real data
 enable_benchmark_e17="no"
 AC_ARG_ENABLE([e17],
diff --git a/legacy/eina/m4/common/efl_tests.m4 b/legacy/eina/m4/common/efl_tests.m4
index edd57f2199..d8554e1539 100644
--- a/legacy/eina/m4/common/efl_tests.m4
+++ b/legacy/eina/m4/common/efl_tests.m4
@@ -44,17 +44,17 @@ if test "x${_efl_enable_tests}" = "xyes" ; then
       m4_defn([UPEFL])[]_CFLAGS="${m4_defn([UPEFL])[]_CFLAGS} -fprofile-arcs -ftest-coverage"
       m4_defn([UPEFL])[]_LIBS="${m4_defn([UPEFL])[]_LIBS} -lgcov"
 # remove any optimisation flag and force debug symbols
-      m4_defn([UPEFL])[]_CFLAGS="${m4_defn([UPEFL])[]_CFLAGS} -g -O0 -DDEBUG"
+      if test "x${prefer_assert}" = "xno"; then
+         m4_defn([UPEFL])[]_CFLAGS="${m4_defn([UPEFL])[]_CFLAGS} -DNDEBUG"
+      else
+         m4_defn([UPEFL])[]_CFLAGS="${m4_defn([UPEFL])[]_CFLAGS} -g -O0 -DDEBUG"
+      fi
       efl_enable_coverage="yes"
    else
       AC_MSG_WARN([lcov is not found, disable profiling instrumentation])
    fi
 fi
 
-dnl Substitution
-AC_SUBST(EFL_COVERAGE_CFLAGS)
-AC_SUBST(EFL_COVERAGE_LIBS)
-
 AM_CONDITIONAL(EFL_ENABLE_TESTS, test "x${_efl_enable_tests}" = "xyes")
 
 AS_IF([test "x$_efl_enable_tests" = "xyes"], [$2], [$3])