diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index d6384cb3c..e922d2bff 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -15,6 +15,14 @@ cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.22.1)
 
 project(bitsandbytes LANGUAGES CXX)
 
+# If run without specifying a build type, default to using the Release configuration:
+#    optimizing the generated binaries for performance and also adds the `-DNDEBUG` flag,
+#    which turns off a bunch of asserts which seem to link to new symbols in libstdc++,
+#    worsening our many_linux compliance..
+if(NOT CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE)
+    set(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE Release)
+endif()
+
 if (CMAKE_COMPILER_IS_GNUCXX)
    add_compile_definitions(_GLIBCXX_USE_CXX11_ABI=1)
 endif()