diff --git a/tests/core/ndebug.cpp b/tests/core/ndebug.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..75f69c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/core/ndebug.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+/* -*- Mode:C++; c-file-style:"gnu"; indent-tabs-mode:nil; -*- */
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) 2014,  Regents of the University of California,
+ *                      Arizona Board of Regents,
+ *                      Colorado State University,
+ *                      University Pierre & Marie Curie, Sorbonne University,
+ *                      Washington University in St. Louis,
+ *                      Beijing Institute of Technology,
+ *                      The University of Memphis
+ *
+ * This file is part of NFD (Named Data Networking Forwarding Daemon).
+ * See AUTHORS.md for complete list of NFD authors and contributors.
+ *
+ * NFD is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms
+ * of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation,
+ * either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * NFD is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY;
+ * without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
+ * PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
+ * NFD, e.g., in COPYING.md file.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+#include "common.hpp"
+
+#include "tests/test-common.hpp"
+
+namespace ndn {
+namespace tests {
+
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_SUITE(CoreNdebug)
+
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(AssertFalse)
+{
+#ifndef _DEBUG
+  // in release builds, assertion shouldn't execute
+  BOOST_ASSERT(false);
+#endif
+}
+
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(SideEffect)
+{
+  int a = 1;
+  BOOST_ASSERT((a = 2) > 0);
+#ifdef _DEBUG
+  BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(a, 2);
+#else
+  BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(a, 1);
+#endif
+}
+
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_SUITE_END()
+
+} // namespace tests
+} // namespace ndn
diff --git a/wscript b/wscript
index 8baa805..d2aff10 100644
--- a/wscript
+++ b/wscript
@@ -105,6 +105,10 @@
 
     conf.define('DEFAULT_CONFIG_FILE', '%s/ndn/nfd.conf' % conf.env['SYSCONFDIR'])
 
+    # disable assertions in release builds
+    if not conf.options.debug:
+        conf.define('NDEBUG', 1)
+
     conf.write_config_header('config.hpp')
 
 def build(bld):