diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 82bc01a67..78a8daaee 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -72,6 +72,13 @@ ifdef COMSPEC
     endif # CYGWIN
 endif # COMSPEC
 
+ifndef CXX
+    CXX=g++
+endif
+
+ifeq ($(CXX), clang++)
+    CPPCHK_GLIBCXX_DEBUG=
+endif
 ifndef CXXFLAGS
     CXXFLAGS=-include lib/cxx11emu.h -pedantic -Wall -Wextra -Wabi -Wcast-qual -Wfloat-equal -Winline -Wmissing-declarations -Wmissing-format-attribute -Wno-long-long -Wpacked -Wredundant-decls -Wshadow -Wsign-promo -Wno-missing-field-initializers -Wno-missing-braces -Wno-sign-compare $(CPPCHK_GLIBCXX_DEBUG) -g
 endif
@@ -85,10 +92,6 @@ ifeq ($(HAVE_RULES),yes)
     endif
 endif
 
-ifndef CXX
-    CXX=g++
-endif
-
 ifndef PREFIX
     PREFIX=/usr
 endif
diff --git a/tools/dmake.cpp b/tools/dmake.cpp
index 3b34e732a..a194fbe99 100644
--- a/tools/dmake.cpp
+++ b/tools/dmake.cpp
@@ -313,6 +313,12 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
          << "endif # COMSPEC\n"
          << "\n";
 
+    // skip "-D_GLIBCXX_DEBUG" if clang, since it breaks the build
+    makeConditionalVariable(fout, "CXX", "g++");
+    fout << "ifeq ($(CXX), clang++)\n"
+         << "    CPPCHK_GLIBCXX_DEBUG=\n"
+         << "endif\n";
+
     // Makefile settings..
     if (release) {
         makeConditionalVariable(fout, "CXXFLAGS", "-O2 -include lib/cxx11emu.h -DNDEBUG -Wall -Wno-sign-compare");
@@ -358,7 +364,6 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
          << "    endif\n"
          << "endif\n\n";
 
-    makeConditionalVariable(fout, "CXX", "g++");
     makeConditionalVariable(fout, "PREFIX", "/usr");
     makeConditionalVariable(fout, "INCLUDE_FOR_LIB", "-Ilib -Iexternals/tinyxml");
     makeConditionalVariable(fout, "INCLUDE_FOR_CLI", "-Ilib -Iexternals/tinyxml");