diff --git a/makefiles/vars.inc.mk b/makefiles/vars.inc.mk
index ce6c4e15b2..a8ce40c3b4 100644
--- a/makefiles/vars.inc.mk
+++ b/makefiles/vars.inc.mk
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ export HEXFILE               # The 'intel hex' stripped result of the compilatio
 # DEBUGSERVER_FLAGS          # The parameters to supply to DEBUGSERVER.
 # DEBUGCLIENT                # The command to call on "make debug-client", usually a script starting the GDB client.
 # DEBUGCLIENT_FLAGS          # The parameters to supply to DEBUGCLIENT.
-# DEVELHELP                  # Set to 1 to spend ROM, RAM and CPU time for help during development (e.g. enable asserts())
+export DEVELHELP             # Set to 1 to spend ROM, RAM and CPU time for help during development (e.g. enable asserts())
 # RESET                      # The command to call on "make reset", this command resets/reboots the target.
 # RESET_FLAGS                # The parameters to supply to RESET.
 # PROGRAMMER                 # The programmer to use when flashing, resetting or debugging