--- SConstruct
+++ SConstruct
@@ -119,6 +119,7 @@
 
 else:
 	print "Compiling for Unix/Posix/Linux Environment"
+	SConsignFile()
 	env = Environment(ENV = os.environ)
 	env.Append(CPPPATH = ['/usr/include/SDL', '/usr/include/GL'])
 	libpath = ['/usr/X11R6/lib']
@@ -126,13 +127,18 @@
 	sdllibs = ['SDL', 'SDL_image']
 	ccflags = '-Wall `sdl-config --cflags` `pkg-config --cflags x11`'
 	env.Append(LINKFLAGS = '`pkg-config --libs-only-L x11`')
+	if os.environ.has_key('CXX'):
+		env['CXX'] = os.environ['CXX']
+	if os.environ.has_key('CXXFLAGS'):
+		ccflags += os.environ['CXXFLAGS']
+	if os.environ.has_key('LDFLAGS'):
+		env.Append(LINKFLAGS = os.environ['LDFLAGS'])
 	if (debug >= 3):
 		ccflags += ' -g -pg -O3'	# profiling
 	elif (debug == 2):
 		ccflags += ' -g -O0'
 		env.Append(CPPDEFINES = ['DEBUG'])
 	elif (debug == 1):
-		ccflags += ' -g -O1'
 		env.Append(CPPDEFINES = ['DEBUG'])
 	elif (debug == -1):
 		ccflags += ' -g -O3 -march=athlon-xp -mfpmath=sse -mmmx -msse -m3dnow'
@@ -140,8 +144,6 @@
 		ccflags += ' -g -O3 -march=athlon-xp -mfpmath=sse -mmmx -msse -m3dnow -ftree-vectorize -ftree-vectorizer-verbose=2'
 	elif (debug == -3):	# special g++4.0+ auto vectorization
 		ccflags += ' -g -O3 -march=athlon64 -mfpmath=sse -mmmx -msse -msse2 -m3dnow -ftree-vectorize -ftree-vectorizer-verbose=2'
-	else:
-		ccflags += ' -g -O2' # debug symbols will be stripped by the linker for a debian package
 	# choose specific architecture if requested
 	if archflag != '':
 		ccflags += ' -march=' + archflag