diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 0dd5d6fa0a..045b3e04d3 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
 
+2.4-596 | 2016-06-07 11:07:29 -0700
+
+  * Don't create debug.log immediately upon startup (BIT-1616).
+    (Daniel Thayer)
+
 2.4-594 | 2016-06-06 18:11:16 -0700
 
   * ASCII Input: Accept DOS/Windows newlines. Addresses BIT-1198
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index d4f1a27462..de957b70f7 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.4-594
+2.4-596
diff --git a/src/DebugLogger.cc b/src/DebugLogger.cc
index 4e3dba9d81..57f85af417 100644
--- a/src/DebugLogger.cc
+++ b/src/DebugLogger.cc
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 #include "Net.h"
 #include "plugin/Plugin.h"
 
-DebugLogger debug_logger("debug");
+DebugLogger debug_logger;
 
 // Same order here as in DebugStream.
 DebugLogger::Stream DebugLogger::streams[NUM_DBGS] = {
@@ -22,7 +22,18 @@ DebugLogger::Stream DebugLogger::streams[NUM_DBGS] = {
 	{ "pktio", 0, false }, { "broker", 0, false }
 };
 
-DebugLogger::DebugLogger(const char* filename)
+DebugLogger::DebugLogger()
+	{
+	verbose = false;
+	}
+
+DebugLogger::~DebugLogger()
+	{
+	if ( file && file != stderr )
+		fclose(file);
+	}
+
+void DebugLogger::OpenDebugLog(const char* filename)
 	{
 	if ( filename )
 		{
@@ -45,14 +56,6 @@ DebugLogger::DebugLogger(const char* filename)
 		}
 	else
 		file = stderr;
-
-	verbose = false;
-	}
-
-DebugLogger::~DebugLogger()
-	{
-	if ( file != stderr )
-		fclose(file);
 	}
 
 void DebugLogger::ShowStreamsHelp()
diff --git a/src/DebugLogger.h b/src/DebugLogger.h
index ca947ff03a..18068419b8 100644
--- a/src/DebugLogger.h
+++ b/src/DebugLogger.h
@@ -53,9 +53,11 @@ namespace plugin { class Plugin; }
 class DebugLogger {
 public:
 	// Output goes to stderr per default.
-	DebugLogger(const char* filename = 0);
+	DebugLogger();
 	~DebugLogger();
 
+	void OpenDebugLog(const char* filename = 0);
+
 	void Log(DebugStream stream, const char* fmt, ...);
 	void Log(const plugin::Plugin& plugin, const char* fmt, ...);
 
diff --git a/src/main.cc b/src/main.cc
index a0615d75da..abe57330d5 100644
--- a/src/main.cc
+++ b/src/main.cc
@@ -754,7 +754,10 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
 
 #ifdef DEBUG
 	if ( debug_streams )
+		{
 		debug_logger.EnableStreams(debug_streams);
+		debug_logger.OpenDebugLog("debug");
+		}
 #endif
 
 	init_random_seed(seed, (seed_load_file && *seed_load_file ? seed_load_file : 0) , seed_save_file);