diff --git a/security/apparmor/include/lib.h b/security/apparmor/include/lib.h
index 7d27db740bc2f19fae390923ddd87334950c9004..ac5054899f6f4956199d7b9ac5e88b3f3c2523c9 100644
--- a/security/apparmor/include/lib.h
+++ b/security/apparmor/include/lib.h
@@ -22,6 +22,11 @@
  */
 
 #define DEBUG_ON (aa_g_debug)
+/*
+ * split individual debug cases out in preparation for finer grained
+ * debug controls in the future.
+ */
+#define AA_DEBUG_LABEL DEBUG_ON
 #define dbg_printk(__fmt, __args...) pr_debug(__fmt, ##__args)
 #define AA_DEBUG(fmt, args...)						\
 	do {								\
diff --git a/security/apparmor/label.c b/security/apparmor/label.c
index 6222fdfebe4e55a905a55ed554f505b9bb34d216..ec13cd2b007a0d114743f44d9bdaf04666c1812c 100644
--- a/security/apparmor/label.c
+++ b/security/apparmor/label.c
@@ -1632,9 +1632,9 @@ int aa_label_snxprint(char *str, size_t size, struct aa_ns *ns,
 	AA_BUG(!str && size != 0);
 	AA_BUG(!label);
 
-	if (flags & FLAG_ABS_ROOT) {
+	if (AA_DEBUG_LABEL && (flags & FLAG_ABS_ROOT)) {
 		ns = root_ns;
-		len = snprintf(str, size, "=");
+		len = snprintf(str, size, "_");
 		update_for_len(total, len, size, str);
 	} else if (!ns) {
 		ns = labels_ns(label);
@@ -1896,7 +1896,8 @@ struct aa_label *aa_label_strn_parse(struct aa_label *base, const char *str,
 	AA_BUG(!str);
 
 	str = skipn_spaces(str, n);
-	if (str == NULL || (*str == '=' && base != &root_ns->unconfined->label))
+	if (str == NULL || (AA_DEBUG_LABEL && *str == '_' &&
+			    base != &root_ns->unconfined->label))
 		return ERR_PTR(-EINVAL);
 
 	len = label_count_strn_entries(str, end - str);