diff --git a/config/common_base b/config/common_base
index c24086789..b975a1feb 100644
--- a/config/common_base
+++ b/config/common_base
@@ -828,7 +828,6 @@ CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_STACK=y
 #
 CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_MEMPOOL=y
 CONFIG_RTE_MEMPOOL_CACHE_MAX_SIZE=512
-CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_MEMPOOL_DEBUG=n
 
 #
 # Compile Mempool drivers
diff --git a/doc/guides/prog_guide/mempool_lib.rst b/doc/guides/prog_guide/mempool_lib.rst
index f8b430d65..b8104163e 100644
--- a/doc/guides/prog_guide/mempool_lib.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/prog_guide/mempool_lib.rst
@@ -17,14 +17,15 @@ This library is used by the :ref:`Mbuf Library <Mbuf_Library>`.
 Cookies
 -------
 
-In debug mode (CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_MEMPOOL_DEBUG is enabled), cookies are added at the beginning and end of allocated blocks.
+In debug mode (RTE_DEBUG is enabled), cookies are added at the beginning and end of allocated blocks.
 The allocated objects then contain overwrite protection fields to help debugging buffer overflows.
+The RTE_DEBUG flag can be enabled using meson "debug" option.
 
 Stats
 -----
 
-In debug mode (CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_MEMPOOL_DEBUG is enabled),
-statistics about get from/put in the pool are stored in the mempool structure.
+In debug mode (RTE_DEBUG is enabled), statistics about get from/put in the pool
+are stored in the mempool structure.
 Statistics are per-lcore to avoid concurrent access to statistics counters.
 
 Memory Alignment Constraints on x86 architecture
diff --git a/lib/librte_mempool/rte_mempool.c b/lib/librte_mempool/rte_mempool.c
index 712c839a0..7772895cc 100644
--- a/lib/librte_mempool/rte_mempool.c
+++ b/lib/librte_mempool/rte_mempool.c
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ mempool_add_elem(struct rte_mempool *mp, __rte_unused void *opaque,
 	STAILQ_INSERT_TAIL(&mp->elt_list, hdr, next);
 	mp->populated_size++;
 
-#ifdef RTE_LIBRTE_MEMPOOL_DEBUG
+#ifdef RTE_DEBUG
 	hdr->cookie = RTE_MEMPOOL_HEADER_COOKIE2;
 	tlr = __mempool_get_trailer(obj);
 	tlr->cookie = RTE_MEMPOOL_TRAILER_COOKIE;
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ rte_mempool_calc_obj_size(uint32_t elt_size, uint32_t flags,
 		sz->header_size = RTE_ALIGN_CEIL(sz->header_size,
 			RTE_MEMPOOL_ALIGN);
 
-#ifdef RTE_LIBRTE_MEMPOOL_DEBUG
+#ifdef RTE_DEBUG
 	sz->trailer_size = sizeof(struct rte_mempool_objtlr);
 #else
 	sz->trailer_size = 0;
@@ -806,7 +806,7 @@ rte_mempool_create_empty(const char *name, unsigned n, unsigned elt_size,
 			  RTE_CACHE_LINE_MASK) != 0);
 	RTE_BUILD_BUG_ON((sizeof(struct rte_mempool_cache) &
 			  RTE_CACHE_LINE_MASK) != 0);
-#ifdef RTE_LIBRTE_MEMPOOL_DEBUG
+#ifdef RTE_DEBUG
 	RTE_BUILD_BUG_ON((sizeof(struct rte_mempool_debug_stats) &
 			  RTE_CACHE_LINE_MASK) != 0);
 	RTE_BUILD_BUG_ON((offsetof(struct rte_mempool, stats) &
@@ -1033,7 +1033,7 @@ rte_mempool_dump_cache(FILE *f, const struct rte_mempool *mp)
 void rte_mempool_check_cookies(const struct rte_mempool *mp,
 	void * const *obj_table_const, unsigned n, int free)
 {
-#ifdef RTE_LIBRTE_MEMPOOL_DEBUG
+#ifdef RTE_DEBUG
 	struct rte_mempool_objhdr *hdr;
 	struct rte_mempool_objtlr *tlr;
 	uint64_t cookie;
@@ -1102,7 +1102,7 @@ void
 rte_mempool_contig_blocks_check_cookies(const struct rte_mempool *mp,
 	void * const *first_obj_table_const, unsigned int n, int free)
 {
-#ifdef RTE_LIBRTE_MEMPOOL_DEBUG
+#ifdef RTE_DEBUG
 	struct rte_mempool_info info;
 	const size_t total_elt_sz =
 		mp->header_size + mp->elt_size + mp->trailer_size;
@@ -1128,7 +1128,7 @@ rte_mempool_contig_blocks_check_cookies(const struct rte_mempool *mp,
 #endif
 }
 
-#ifdef RTE_LIBRTE_MEMPOOL_DEBUG
+#ifdef RTE_DEBUG
 static void
 mempool_obj_audit(struct rte_mempool *mp, __rte_unused void *opaque,
 	void *obj, __rte_unused unsigned idx)
@@ -1192,7 +1192,7 @@ rte_mempool_audit(struct rte_mempool *mp)
 void
 rte_mempool_dump(FILE *f, struct rte_mempool *mp)
 {
-#ifdef RTE_LIBRTE_MEMPOOL_DEBUG
+#ifdef RTE_DEBUG
 	struct rte_mempool_info info;
 	struct rte_mempool_debug_stats sum;
 	unsigned lcore_id;
@@ -1234,7 +1234,7 @@ rte_mempool_dump(FILE *f, struct rte_mempool *mp)
 	fprintf(f, "  common_pool_count=%u\n", common_count);
 
 	/* sum and dump statistics */
-#ifdef RTE_LIBRTE_MEMPOOL_DEBUG
+#ifdef RTE_DEBUG
 	rte_mempool_ops_get_info(mp, &info);
 	memset(&sum, 0, sizeof(sum));
 	for (lcore_id = 0; lcore_id < RTE_MAX_LCORE; lcore_id++) {
diff --git a/lib/librte_mempool/rte_mempool.h b/lib/librte_mempool/rte_mempool.h
index c90cf3146..dd16c1146 100644
--- a/lib/librte_mempool/rte_mempool.h
+++ b/lib/librte_mempool/rte_mempool.h
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ extern "C" {
 #define RTE_MEMPOOL_HEADER_COOKIE2  0xf2eef2eedadd2e55ULL /**< Header cookie. */
 #define RTE_MEMPOOL_TRAILER_COOKIE  0xadd2e55badbadbadULL /**< Trailer cookie.*/
 
-#ifdef RTE_LIBRTE_MEMPOOL_DEBUG
+#ifdef RTE_DEBUG
 /**
  * A structure that stores the mempool statistics (per-lcore).
  */
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ struct rte_mempool_objhdr {
 		rte_iova_t iova;         /**< IO address of the object. */
 		phys_addr_t physaddr;    /**< deprecated - Physical address of the object. */
 	};
-#ifdef RTE_LIBRTE_MEMPOOL_DEBUG
+#ifdef RTE_DEBUG
 	uint64_t cookie;                 /**< Debug cookie. */
 #endif
 };
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ struct rte_mempool_objhdr {
  */
 STAILQ_HEAD(rte_mempool_objhdr_list, rte_mempool_objhdr);
 
-#ifdef RTE_LIBRTE_MEMPOOL_DEBUG
+#ifdef RTE_DEBUG
 
 /**
  * Mempool object trailer structure
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ struct rte_mempool {
 	uint32_t nb_mem_chunks;          /**< Number of memory chunks */
 	struct rte_mempool_memhdr_list mem_list; /**< List of memory chunks */
 
-#ifdef RTE_LIBRTE_MEMPOOL_DEBUG
+#ifdef RTE_DEBUG
 	/** Per-lcore statistics. */
 	struct rte_mempool_debug_stats stats[RTE_MAX_LCORE];
 #endif
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ struct rte_mempool {
  * @param n
  *   Number to add to the object-oriented statistics.
  */
-#ifdef RTE_LIBRTE_MEMPOOL_DEBUG
+#ifdef RTE_DEBUG
 #define __MEMPOOL_STAT_ADD(mp, name, n) do {                    \
 		unsigned __lcore_id = rte_lcore_id();           \
 		if (__lcore_id < RTE_MAX_LCORE) {               \
@@ -357,12 +357,12 @@ static inline struct rte_mempool_objtlr *__mempool_get_trailer(void *obj)
 void rte_mempool_check_cookies(const struct rte_mempool *mp,
 	void * const *obj_table_const, unsigned n, int free);
 
-#ifdef RTE_LIBRTE_MEMPOOL_DEBUG
+#ifdef RTE_DEBUG
 #define __mempool_check_cookies(mp, obj_table_const, n, free) \
 	rte_mempool_check_cookies(mp, obj_table_const, n, free)
 #else
 #define __mempool_check_cookies(mp, obj_table_const, n, free) do {} while(0)
-#endif /* RTE_LIBRTE_MEMPOOL_DEBUG */
+#endif /* RTE_DEBUG */
 
 /**
  * @warning
@@ -385,7 +385,7 @@ void rte_mempool_check_cookies(const struct rte_mempool *mp,
 void rte_mempool_contig_blocks_check_cookies(const struct rte_mempool *mp,
 	void * const *first_obj_table_const, unsigned int n, int free);
 
-#ifdef RTE_LIBRTE_MEMPOOL_DEBUG
+#ifdef RTE_DEBUG
 #define __mempool_contig_blocks_check_cookies(mp, first_obj_table_const, n, \
 					      free) \
 	rte_mempool_contig_blocks_check_cookies(mp, first_obj_table_const, n, \
@@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ void rte_mempool_contig_blocks_check_cookies(const struct rte_mempool *mp,
 #define __mempool_contig_blocks_check_cookies(mp, first_obj_table_const, n, \
 					      free) \
 	do {} while (0)
-#endif /* RTE_LIBRTE_MEMPOOL_DEBUG */
+#endif /* RTE_DEBUG */
 
 #define RTE_MEMPOOL_OPS_NAMESIZE 32 /**< Max length of ops struct name. */
 
@@ -1337,7 +1337,7 @@ __mempool_generic_put(struct rte_mempool *mp, void * const *obj_table,
 ring_enqueue:
 
 	/* push remaining objects in ring */
-#ifdef RTE_LIBRTE_MEMPOOL_DEBUG
+#ifdef RTE_DEBUG
 	if (rte_mempool_ops_enqueue_bulk(mp, obj_table, n) < 0)
 		rte_panic("cannot put objects in mempool\n");
 #else
