diff --git a/src/yggdrasil/debug.go b/src/yggdrasil/debug.go
index c687162c..bbdd0f69 100644
--- a/src/yggdrasil/debug.go
+++ b/src/yggdrasil/debug.go
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+// +build debug
+
 package yggdrasil
 
 // These are functions that should not exist
@@ -15,6 +17,20 @@ import "net"
 import "log"
 import "regexp"
 
+import _ "net/http/pprof"
+import "net/http"
+import "runtime"
+
+// Starts the function profiler. This is only supported when built with
+// '-tags build'.
+func StartProfiler(log *log.Logger) error {
+	runtime.SetBlockProfileRate(1)
+	go func() { log.Println(http.ListenAndServe("localhost:6060", nil)) }()
+	return nil
+}
+
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
 // Core
 
 func (c *Core) DEBUG_getSigningPublicKey() sigPubKey {
diff --git a/src/yggdrasil/release.go b/src/yggdrasil/release.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fdbe8d5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/yggdrasil/release.go
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+// +build !debug
+
+package yggdrasil
+
+import "errors"
+import "log"
+
+// Starts the function profiler. This is only supported when built with
+// '-tags build'.
+func StartProfiler(_ *log.Logger) error {
+  return errors.New("Release builds do not support -pprof, build using '-tags debug'")
+}
diff --git a/yggdrasil.go b/yggdrasil.go
index af6fc023..1fef8ac7 100644
--- a/yggdrasil.go
+++ b/yggdrasil.go
@@ -11,11 +11,7 @@ import "syscall"
 import "time"
 import "regexp"
 import "math/rand"
-
-import _ "net/http/pprof"
-import "net/http"
 import "log"
-import "runtime"
 
 import "yggdrasil"
 import "yggdrasil/config"
@@ -191,8 +187,9 @@ func main() {
 	logger := log.New(os.Stdout, "", log.Flags())
 	// If the -pprof flag was provided then start the pprof service on port 6060.
 	if *pprof {
-		runtime.SetBlockProfileRate(1)
-		go func() { log.Println(http.ListenAndServe("localhost:6060", nil)) }()
+		if err := yggdrasil.StartProfiler(logger); err != nil {
+			logger.Println(err)
+		}
 	}
 	// Setup the Yggdrasil node itself. The node{} type includes a Core, so we
 	// don't need to create this manually.