diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index 690370e69..50fee6a7f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -235,8 +235,6 @@ CMake remains for now because cargo is unable to install the many asset files th
 
 Some smaller changes:
 
-- The default build configuration has changed to "Debug".
-  Please pass ``-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo`` if you want to build a package.
 - Xcode support has been removed (:issue:`9924`).
 - fish no longer links against the (n)curses library, opting to read the terminfo database via the terminfo crate.
   This means hashed terminfo databases are no longer supported (from our research, they are basically unmaintained and unused).
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index e42ec45a7..a0ebe3223 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/cmake")
 project(fish LANGUAGES C)
 set(CMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS ON)
 
-set(DEFAULT_BUILD_TYPE "Debug")
+set(DEFAULT_BUILD_TYPE "RelWithDebInfo")
 
 # Generate Xcode schemas (but not for tests).
 set(CMAKE_XCODE_GENERATE_SCHEME 1)