diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 5e5c6a23bc..feba751b34 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -901,7 +901,7 @@ case "${build_profile}" in
      ;;
 
    release)
-     with_max_log_level="3"
+     with_max_log_level=""
      have_stringshare_usage="no"
      want_valgrind="no"
      want_debug_malloc="no"