diff --git a/from_cpython/Lib/distutils/ccompiler.py b/from_cpython/Lib/distutils/ccompiler.py
index 2825e49fc..42266ff98 100644
--- a/from_cpython/Lib/distutils/ccompiler.py
+++ b/from_cpython/Lib/distutils/ccompiler.py
@@ -373,7 +373,9 @@ def _get_cc_args(self, pp_opts, debug, before):
             cc_args[:0] = before
 
         if not any ('scipy' in s for s in pp_opts):
-            cc_args = cc_args + ["-Werror=implicit-function-declaration"]
+            import sysconfig
+            if '-DNDEBUG' not in sysconfig.get_config_var('CFLAGS'):
+                cc_args = cc_args + ["-Werror=implicit-function-declaration"]
         return cc_args
 
     def _fix_compile_args(self, output_dir, macros, include_dirs):
diff --git a/src/runtime/import.cpp b/src/runtime/import.cpp
index e96fb0b11..f89070ae7 100644
--- a/src/runtime/import.cpp
+++ b/src/runtime/import.cpp
@@ -138,23 +138,16 @@ extern "C" Box* import(int level, Box* from_imports, llvm::StringRef module_name
 
 BoxedModule* importCExtension(BoxedString* full_name, const std::string& last_name, const std::string& path) {
     void* handle = dlopen(path.c_str(), RTLD_NOW);
-    if (!handle) {
-        const char* s = dlerror();
-        // raiseExcHelper(ImportError, "%s", dlerror());
-        fprintf(stderr, "%s\n", s);
-        exit(1);
-    }
+    if (!handle)
+        raiseExcHelper(ImportError, "%s", dlerror());
     assert(handle);
 
     std::string initname = "init" + last_name;
     void (*init)() = (void (*)())dlsym(handle, initname.c_str());
 
     char* error;
-    if ((error = dlerror()) != NULL) {
-        // raiseExcHelper(ImportError, "%s", error);
-        fprintf(stderr, "%s\n", error);
-        exit(1);
-    }
+    if ((error = dlerror()) != NULL)
+        raiseExcHelper(ImportError, "%s", error);
 
     assert(init);