diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 3a8c460..30b2722 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+CONFIG_WERROR := true
 CONFIG_NATIVE := true
 CONFIG_CXX_ALLOCATOR := true
 CONFIG_UBSAN := false
@@ -27,6 +28,10 @@ endef
 CPPFLAGS := $(CPPFLAGS) -D_GNU_SOURCE
 SHARED_FLAGS := -O3 -flto -fPIC -fvisibility=hidden $(call safe_flag,-fno-plt) $(call safe_flag,-fstack-clash-protection) -fstack-protector-strong -pipe -Wall -Wextra $(call safe_flag,-Wcast-align=strict,-Wcast-align) -Wcast-qual -Wwrite-strings
 
+ifeq ($(CONFIG_WERROR),true)
+    SHARED_FLAGS += -Werror
+endif
+
 ifeq ($(CONFIG_NATIVE),true)
     SHARED_FLAGS += -march=native
 endif
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index cb40e2f..21c9874 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -168,6 +168,11 @@ even with all the optional features disabled.
 
 The following boolean configuration options are available:
 
+* `CONFIG_WERROR`: `true` (default) or `false` to control whether compiler
+  warnings are treated as errors. This is highly recommended, but it can be
+  disabled to avoid patching the Makefile if a compiler version not tested by
+  the project is being used and has warnings. Investigating these warnings is
+  still recommended and the intention is to always be free of any warnings.
 * `CONFIG_NATIVE`: `true` (default) or `false` to control whether the code is
   optimized for the detected CPU on the host. If this is disabled, setting up a
   custom `-march` higher than the baseline architecture is highly recommended