diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 8a1ce60..13c1c43 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -5,3 +5,6 @@ include/mtcerrno.h
 scripts/generr
 scripts/generr.o
 scripts/ha_errnorc
+stubs/cfread
+*.o
+*.a
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index c099041..62df803 100755
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2,63 +2,37 @@
 #   Top-level Makefile
 #
 #   This makefile installs the debug version (compiled without NDEBUG).
-#   To install release version, do "make release-install" or
-#   modify this makefile to do release install by default. See #here below. 
 #
 
-.PHONY: build clean debug release
+.PHONY: build clean debug
 
-all: debug release
+all: debug
 
 debug:
 	@mkdir -p debug
-	@cd include;  make DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
-	@cd lib;      make DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
-	@cd daemon;   make DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
-	@cd commands; make DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
-	@cd scripts;  make DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
+	$(MAKE) -C include DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
+	$(MAKE) -C lib DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
+	$(MAKE) -C daemon DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
+	$(MAKE) -C commands DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
+	$(MAKE) -C scripts DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
 	
-release:
-	@mkdir -p release
-	@cd include;  make DEFMAKE=default-release.mk
-	@cd lib;      make DEFMAKE=default-release.mk
-	@cd daemon;   make DEFMAKE=default-release.mk
-	@cd commands; make DEFMAKE=default-release.mk
-	@cd scripts;  make DEFMAKE=default-release.mk
-
-clean: debug-clean release-clean
+clean: debug-clean
 
 debug-clean:
-	@cd include;  make clean DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
-	@cd lib;      make clean DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
-	@cd daemon;   make clean DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
-	@cd commands; make clean DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
-	@cd scripts;  make clean DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
+	@cd include;  $(MAKE) clean DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
+	@cd lib;      $(MAKE) clean DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
+	@cd daemon;   $(MAKE) clean DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
+	@cd commands; $(MAKE) clean DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
+	@cd scripts;  $(MAKE) clean DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
 	-rmdir debug
 	
-release-clean:
-	@cd include;  make clean DEFMAKE=default-release.mk
-	@cd lib;      make clean DEFMAKE=default-release.mk
-	@cd daemon;   make clean DEFMAKE=default-release.mk
-	@cd commands; make clean DEFMAKE=default-release.mk
-	@cd scripts;  make clean DEFMAKE=default-release.mk
-	-rmdir release
-
 #here
 install: debug-install
 
 debug-install:
 	@mkdir -p debug
-	@cd include;  make install DESTDIR=$(DESTDIR) DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
-	@cd lib;      make install DESTDIR=$(DESTDIR) DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
-	@cd daemon;   make install DESTDIR=$(DESTDIR) DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
-	@cd commands; make install DESTDIR=$(DESTDIR) DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
-	@cd scripts;  make install DESTDIR=$(DESTDIR) DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
-
-release-install:
-	@mkdir -p release
-	@cd include;  make install DESTDIR=$(DESTDIR) DEFMAKE=default-release.mk
-	@cd lib;      make install DESTDIR=$(DESTDIR) DEFMAKE=default-release.mk
-	@cd daemon;   make install DESTDIR=$(DESTDIR) DEFMAKE=default-release.mk
-	@cd commands; make install DESTDIR=$(DESTDIR) DEFMAKE=default-release.mk
-	@cd scripts;  make install DESTDIR=$(DESTDIR) DEFMAKE=default-release.mk
+	@cd include;  $(MAKE) install DESTDIR=$(DESTDIR) DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
+	@cd lib;      $(MAKE) install DESTDIR=$(DESTDIR) DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
+	@cd daemon;   $(MAKE) install DESTDIR=$(DESTDIR) DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
+	@cd commands; $(MAKE) install DESTDIR=$(DESTDIR) DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
+	@cd scripts;  $(MAKE) install DESTDIR=$(DESTDIR) DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
diff --git a/daemon/Makefile b/daemon/Makefile
index 9bf3d9c..c4eec71 100755
--- a/daemon/Makefile
+++ b/daemon/Makefile
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 #
 #   daemon/Makefile
 #
-
 TARGET_DIR=daemon
 DEFMAKE=default-debug.mk
 include ../$(DEFMAKE)
@@ -33,7 +32,7 @@ OBJS    +=$(OBJDIR)/hostweight.o
 all: $(TARGET) $(LST)
 
 $(TARGET): $(OBJS) $(HALIBS)
-	$(CC) -o $@ $(LIBS) $(OBJS) $(HALIBS) $(LIBS)
+	$(CC) -o $@ $(OBJS) $(HALIBS) $(LIBS)
 	@chmod 0755 $@
 
 $(LST): $(TARGET)
diff --git a/default-debug.mk b/default-debug.mk
index 80577aa..e7bae28 100755
--- a/default-debug.mk
+++ b/default-debug.mk
@@ -4,24 +4,19 @@
 
 CC=gcc
 SOURCEDIR=..
-CFLAGS=-g -Wall -Wno-multichar -Werror=pointer-to-int-cast
-
+override CFLAGS+=-g -Wall -Wno-multichar -Werror=pointer-to-int-cast -Og
 
 OBJDIR=$(SOURCEDIR)/debug
 
 INCDIR=$(SOURCEDIR)/include
 INCLUDES=-I$(INCDIR)
-LIBS=-lxml2 -lrt
+LIBS=-lxml2 -lrt $(LDFLAGS)
 HALIBS=$(OBJDIR)/libxha.a
 INSDIR=/usr/libexec/xapi/cluster-stack/xhad
 LOGCONFDIR=/etc/logrotate.d
 
-.PHONY: build clean debug release
+.PHONY: build clean debug
 
 %.o: %.c $(INCDIR)/*.h
 	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(INCLUDES) -c $<
 	
-%.a: %.c $(INCDIR)/*.h
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(INCLUDES) -c $<
-	@$(AR) rv $@ $*.o
-	@$(RM) $*.o
diff --git a/default-release.mk b/default-release.mk
deleted file mode 100755
index 44960fe..0000000
--- a/default-release.mk
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
-#
-#   default-release.mk
-#
-
-CC=gcc
-SOURCEDIR=..
-CFLAGS=-g -Wall -Wno-multichar -Werror=pointer-to-int-cast
-
-CFLAGS+=-DNDEBUG 
-OBJDIR=$(SOURCEDIR)/release
-
-INCDIR=$(SOURCEDIR)/include
-INCLUDES=-I$(INCDIR)
-LIBS=-lxml2 -lrt
-HALIBS=$(OBJDIR)/libxha.a
-INSDIR=/usr/libexec/xapi/cluster-stack/xhad
-LOGCONFDIR=/etc/logrotate.d
-
-.PHONY: build clean debug release
-
-%.o: %.c $(INCDIR)/*.h
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(INCLUDES) -c $<
-	
-%.a: %.c $(INCDIR)/*.h
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(INCLUDES) -c $<
-	@$(AR) rv $@ $*.o
-	@$(RM) $*.o
diff --git a/include/Makefile b/include/Makefile
index 2e526bc..25ae6ec 100755
--- a/include/Makefile
+++ b/include/Makefile
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ all: $(TARGET)
 mtcerrno.h: errdef.awk mtcerrno.def 
 	gawk -f errdef.awk mtcerrno.def > $@
 
-.PHONY: buildid.h
 buildid.h:
 	sh buildid.sh > $@
 
diff --git a/lib/Makefile b/lib/Makefile
index afed6a2..2ea8647 100755
--- a/lib/Makefile
+++ b/lib/Makefile
@@ -13,11 +13,14 @@ OBJS    +=config.o
 OBJS    +=error.o
 OBJS    +=weightio.o
 
-TARGET=$(HALIBS)($(OBJS))
+TARGET=$(HALIBS)
+
+$(HALIBS): $(OBJS)
+	@$(AR) rv $@ $(OBJS)
 
 all: $(TARGET)
 
 install: $(TARGET)
 
 clean:
-	rm -f $(HALIBS)
+	rm -f $(HALIBS) $(OBJS)
diff --git a/readme b/readme
index 5c7bc02..7d129e4 100644
--- a/readme
+++ b/readme
@@ -41,8 +41,6 @@ Date: April 18, 2008
         Top-level makefile of xha.
     default-debug.mk
         Various make defaults for debug build.
-    default-release.mk
-        Various make defaults for release build.
     commands/
         Source files of utility programs for the HA scripts.
     daemon/
diff --git a/stubs/Makefile b/stubs/Makefile
index bc50cfa..8703210 100755
--- a/stubs/Makefile
+++ b/stubs/Makefile
@@ -16,12 +16,12 @@ TARGET= $(SCRIPTDIR)/cfread \
 $(FRC)
 
 all:
-	(cd cfread-libxml2; make)
+	$(MAKE) -C cfread-libxml2
 
 install:
 	-mkdir -p $(DESTDIR)$(SCRIPTDIR)
 	-cp ha_* cfread $(DESTDIR)$(SCRIPTDIR)
 
 clean:
-	(cd cfread-libxml2; make clean)
+	$(MAKE) -C cfread-libxml2 clean
 	-rm -f $(TARGET)