diff --git a/common.mk b/common.mk
index 3e54463c8a..1ae410cb7f 100644
--- a/common.mk
+++ b/common.mk
@@ -341,7 +341,9 @@ run-binary-debug: check-binary $(BINARY).run.debug
 run-binaries-debug: check-binaries $(addsuffix .run.debug,$(BINARIES))
 
 %.run.debug: %.check-exists $(SIM_DEBUG_PREREQ) | $(output_dir)
+ifeq (1,$(DUMP_BINARY))
 	if [ "$*" != "none" ]; then riscv64-unknown-elf-objdump -D -S $* > $(call get_sim_out_name,$*).dump ; fi
+endif
 	(set -o pipefail && $(NUMA_PREFIX) $(sim_debug) \
 		$(PERMISSIVE_ON) \
 		$(call get_common_sim_flags,$*) \
diff --git a/variables.mk b/variables.mk
index 5dfee1968f..bbd5a6b576 100644
--- a/variables.mk
+++ b/variables.mk
@@ -30,7 +30,8 @@ HELP_SIMULATION_VARIABLES = \
 "   LOADMEM                = riscv elf binary that should be loaded directly into simulated DRAM. LOADMEM=1 will load the BINARY elf" \
 "   LOADARCH               = path to a architectural checkpoint directory that should end in .loadarch/, for restoring from a checkpoint" \
 "   VERBOSE_FLAGS          = flags used when doing verbose simulation [$(VERBOSE_FLAGS)]" \
-"   TIMEOUT_CYCLES         = number of clock cycles before simulator times out, defaults to 10000000"
+"   TIMEOUT_CYCLES         = number of clock cycles before simulator times out, defaults to 10000000" \
+"   DUMP_BINARY            = set to '1' to disassemble the target binary"
 
 # include default simulation rules
 HELP_COMMANDS = \
@@ -261,6 +262,7 @@ VERBOSE_FLAGS ?= +verbose
 get_out_name = $(subst $() $(),_,$(notdir $(basename $(1))))
 LOADMEM ?=
 LOADARCH ?=
+DUMP_BINARY ?= 1
 
 ifneq ($(LOADARCH),)
 override BINARY = $(addsuffix /mem.elf,$(LOADARCH))