diff --git a/parse.y b/parse.y
index 98f6264..64c6c2d 100644
--- a/parse.y
+++ b/parse.y
@@ -2196,7 +2196,9 @@ shell_getc (remove_quoted_newline)
       /* Let's not let one really really long line blow up memory allocation */
       if (shell_input_line && shell_input_line_size >= 32768)
 	{
+#ifdef DEBUG
 itrace("shell_getc: freeing shell_input_line");
+#endif
 	  free (shell_input_line);
 	  shell_input_line = 0;
 	  shell_input_line_size = 0;