diff --git a/build.py b/build.py
index c3492867..5bd9190d 100755
--- a/build.py
+++ b/build.py
@@ -1252,7 +1252,7 @@ def cmd_sip(options, args):
             sip_module = 'wx.siplib',   # the fully qualified name of the sip module
             sbf_file=sbf,               # File to write the generated file lists to
             exceptions = False,         # enable support for exceptions
-            tracing = False,            # generate code with tracing enabled
+            tracing = cfg.SIP_TRACE,    # generate code with tracing enabled
             sources_dir = tmpdir,       # the name of the code directory
             extracts = [pycode],        # add <ID:FILE> to the list of extracts to generate
             pyi_extract=pyi_extract,    # the name of the .pyi stub file
diff --git a/buildtools/config.py b/buildtools/config.py
index 0e544256..4725d008 100644
--- a/buildtools/config.py
+++ b/buildtools/config.py
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ class Configuration(object):
     # The name of the top-level package
 
     SIP_ABI = '12.8'
+    SIP_TRACE = False
 
     # ---------------------------------------------------------------
     # Basic initialization and configuration code