diff --git a/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/Config.java b/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/Config.java
index 8bcb36ea933..3bc7feaabe6 100644
--- a/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/Config.java
+++ b/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/Config.java
@@ -883,6 +883,11 @@ public class Config
         if (name.equals("DEBUG"))
         {
             DEBUG = Boolean.parseBoolean(value);
+            if (DEBUG)
+            {
+                System.setProperty("org.eclipse.jetty.util.log.stderr.DEBUG","true");
+                System.setProperty("org.eclipse.jetty.start.DEBUG","true");
+            }
         }
         if (name.equals("OPTIONS"))
         {
diff --git a/jetty-util/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/log/StdErrLog.java b/jetty-util/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/log/StdErrLog.java
index 03c508a8e00..8c204042d8c 100644
--- a/jetty-util/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/log/StdErrLog.java
+++ b/jetty-util/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/log/StdErrLog.java
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ public class StdErrLog implements Logger
 {    
     private static DateCache _dateCache;
     
-    private final static boolean __debug = Boolean.parseBoolean(System.getProperty("org.eclipse.jetty.util.log.DEBUG","false"));
+    private final static boolean __debug = Boolean.parseBoolean(System.getProperty("org.eclipse.jetty.util.log.stderr.DEBUG","false"));
     private boolean _debug = __debug;
     private String _name;
     private boolean _hideStacks=false;
@@ -183,6 +183,7 @@ public class StdErrLog implements Logger
         return new StdErrLog(_name==null||_name.length()==0?name:_name+"."+name);
     }
     
+    @Override
     public String toString()
     {
         return "StdErrLog:"+_name+":DEBUG="+_debug;