diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/emacs/build-support/trivial.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/emacs/build-support/trivial.nix
index f95b6f3cdfc3..b37dfcccfb63 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/emacs/build-support/trivial.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/emacs/build-support/trivial.nix
@@ -19,7 +19,12 @@ lib.extendMkDerivation {
             foundMakefile=1
           fi
 
-          emacs -l package -f package-initialize -L . --batch -f batch-byte-compile *.el
+          emacs -l package -f package-initialize \
+            --eval "(setq byte-compile-debug ${if finalAttrs.ignoreCompilationError then "nil" else "t"})" \
+            --eval "(setq byte-compile-error-on-warn ${
+              if finalAttrs.turnCompilationWarningToError then "t" else "nil"
+            })" \
+            -L . --batch -f batch-byte-compile *.el
 
           runHook postBuild
         '';