diff --git a/mesonbuild/backend/backends.py b/mesonbuild/backend/backends.py
index b8ca71fc9..ad4520435 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/backend/backends.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/backend/backends.py
@@ -89,12 +89,17 @@ class OptionProxy:
 class OptionOverrideProxy:
     '''Mimic an option list but transparently override
     selected option values.'''
-    def __init__(self, overrides, options):
+    def __init__(self, overrides, *options):
         self.overrides = overrides
         self.options = options
 
     def __getitem__(self, option_name):
-        base_opt = self.options[option_name]
+        for opts in self.options:
+            if option_name in opts:
+                return self._get_override(option_name, opts[option_name])
+        raise KeyError('Option not found', option_name)
+
+    def _get_override(self, option_name, base_opt):
         if option_name in self.overrides:
             return OptionProxy(base_opt.name, base_opt.validate_value(self.overrides[option_name]))
         return base_opt
@@ -123,6 +128,20 @@ class Backend:
     def get_target_filename_abs(self, target):
         return os.path.join(self.environment.get_build_dir(), self.get_target_filename(target))
 
+    def get_builtin_options_for_target(self, target):
+        return OptionOverrideProxy(target.option_overrides,
+                                   self.environment.coredata.builtins)
+
+    def get_base_options_for_target(self, target):
+        return OptionOverrideProxy(target.option_overrides,
+                                   self.environment.coredata.builtins,
+                                   self.environment.coredata.base_options)
+
+    def get_compiler_options_for_target(self, target):
+        return OptionOverrideProxy(target.option_overrides,
+                                   # no code depends on builtins for now
+                                   self.environment.coredata.compiler_options)
+
     def get_option_for_target(self, option_name, target):
         if option_name in target.option_overrides:
             override = target.option_overrides[option_name]
@@ -444,7 +463,7 @@ class Backend:
         # starting from hard-coded defaults followed by build options and so on.
         commands = CompilerArgs(compiler)
 
-        copt_proxy = OptionOverrideProxy(target.option_overrides, self.environment.coredata.compiler_options)
+        copt_proxy = self.get_compiler_options_for_target(target)
         # First, the trivial ones that are impossible to override.
         #
         # Add -nostdinc/-nostdinc++ if needed; can't be overridden
diff --git a/mesonbuild/backend/ninjabackend.py b/mesonbuild/backend/ninjabackend.py
index f0ea09bd9..39e4ce931 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/backend/ninjabackend.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/backend/ninjabackend.py
@@ -2137,8 +2137,7 @@ rule FORTRAN_DEP_HACK
         return incs
 
     def _generate_single_compile(self, target, compiler, is_generated=False):
-        base_proxy = backends.OptionOverrideProxy(target.option_overrides,
-                                                  self.environment.coredata.base_options)
+        base_proxy = self.get_base_options_for_target(target)
         # Create an empty commands list, and start adding arguments from
         # various sources in the order in which they must override each other
         commands = CompilerArgs(compiler)
diff --git a/mesonbuild/compilers/compilers.py b/mesonbuild/compilers/compilers.py
index f8dfc9689..65c942bf9 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/compilers/compilers.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/compilers/compilers.py
@@ -315,7 +315,9 @@ def get_base_compile_args(options, compiler):
     except KeyError:
         pass
     try:
-        if options['b_ndebug'].value == 'true' or (options['b_ndebug'].value == 'if-release' and options['buildtype'] == 'release'):
+        if (options['b_ndebug'].value == 'true' or
+                (options['b_ndebug'].value == 'if-release' and
+                 options['buildtype'].value == 'release')):
             args += ['-DNDEBUG']
     except KeyError:
         pass
diff --git a/run_unittests.py b/run_unittests.py
index b6367c187..94e39c857 100755
--- a/run_unittests.py
+++ b/run_unittests.py
@@ -1895,6 +1895,20 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
                     exception_raised = True
         self.assertTrue(exception_raised, 'Double locking did not raise exception.')
 
+    def test_ndebug_if_release_disabled(self):
+        testdir = os.path.join(self.unit_test_dir, '25 ndebug if-release')
+        self.init(testdir, extra_args=['--buildtype=release', '-Db_ndebug=if-release'])
+        self.build()
+        exe = os.path.join(self.builddir, 'main')
+        self.assertEqual(b'NDEBUG=1', subprocess.check_output(exe).strip())
+
+    def test_ndebug_if_release_enabled(self):
+        testdir = os.path.join(self.unit_test_dir, '25 ndebug if-release')
+        self.init(testdir, extra_args=['--buildtype=debugoptimized', '-Db_ndebug=if-release'])
+        self.build()
+        exe = os.path.join(self.builddir, 'main')
+        self.assertEqual(b'NDEBUG=0', subprocess.check_output(exe).strip())
+
 
 class FailureTests(BasePlatformTests):
     '''
diff --git a/test cases/common/185 ndebug if-release enabled/main.c b/test cases/common/185 ndebug if-release enabled/main.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..984ebcabe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test cases/common/185 ndebug if-release enabled/main.c	
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#include <assert.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+
+int meson_test_side_effect = EXIT_FAILURE;
+
+int meson_test_set_side_effect(void) {
+    meson_test_side_effect = EXIT_SUCCESS;
+    return 1;
+}
+
+int main(void) {
+    // meson_test_side_effect is set only if assert is executed
+    assert(meson_test_set_side_effect());
+    return meson_test_side_effect;
+}
diff --git a/test cases/common/185 ndebug if-release enabled/meson.build b/test cases/common/185 ndebug if-release enabled/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ac4f0e772
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test cases/common/185 ndebug if-release enabled/meson.build	
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+project('ndebug enabled', 'c',
+        default_options : [
+          'buildtype=debugoptimized',
+          'b_ndebug=if-release',
+        ])
+
+if meson.get_compiler('c').get_id() == 'msvc'
+  error('MESON_SKIP_TEST b_ndebug is not supported on Visual Studio')
+endif
+
+test('exe', executable('main', 'main.c'))
diff --git a/test cases/common/186 ndebug if-release disabled/main.c b/test cases/common/186 ndebug if-release disabled/main.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cb3ec3f65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test cases/common/186 ndebug if-release disabled/main.c	
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#include <assert.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+
+int main(void) {
+    assert(0);
+    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
+}
diff --git a/test cases/common/186 ndebug if-release disabled/meson.build b/test cases/common/186 ndebug if-release disabled/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f2678edbd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test cases/common/186 ndebug if-release disabled/meson.build	
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+project('ndebug disabled', 'c',
+        default_options : [
+          'buildtype=release',
+          'b_ndebug=if-release',
+        ])
+
+if meson.get_compiler('c').get_id() == 'msvc'
+  error('MESON_SKIP_TEST b_ndebug is not supported on Visual Studio')
+endif
+
+test('exe', executable('main', 'main.c'))
diff --git a/test cases/unit/25 ndebug if-release/main.c b/test cases/unit/25 ndebug if-release/main.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..70b3d044a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test cases/unit/25 ndebug if-release/main.c	
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+
+int main(void) {
+#ifdef NDEBUG
+    printf("NDEBUG=1\n");
+#else
+    printf("NDEBUG=0\n");
+#endif
+    return 0;
+}
diff --git a/test cases/unit/25 ndebug if-release/meson.build b/test cases/unit/25 ndebug if-release/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d45bd8676
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test cases/unit/25 ndebug if-release/meson.build	
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+project('ndebug enabled', 'c')
+
+if meson.get_compiler('c').get_id() == 'msvc'
+  error('MESON_SKIP_TEST b_ndebug is not supported on Visual Studio')
+endif
+
+executable('main', 'main.c')