diff --git a/Lib/distutils/ccompiler.py b/Lib/distutils/ccompiler.py
index d8d8ab916c3..141af796a0f 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/ccompiler.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/ccompiler.py
@@ -682,10 +682,12 @@ class CCompiler:
         """
         raise NotImplementedError
 
-    def find_library_file (self, dirs, lib):
+    def find_library_file (self, dirs, lib, debug=0):
         """Search the specified list of directories for a static or shared
-        library file 'lib' and return the full path to that file. Return
-        None if it wasn't found in any of the specified directories.
+        library file 'lib' and return the full path to that file.  If
+        'debug' true, look for a debugging version (if that makes sense on
+        the current platform).  Return None if 'lib' wasn't found in any of
+        the specified directories.
         """
         raise NotImplementedError
 
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/unixccompiler.py b/Lib/distutils/unixccompiler.py
index 799560c3963..9339850102a 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/unixccompiler.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/unixccompiler.py
@@ -317,7 +317,7 @@ class UnixCCompiler (CCompiler):
         return "-l" + lib
 
 
-    def find_library_file (self, dirs, lib):
+    def find_library_file (self, dirs, lib, debug=0):
 
         for dir in dirs:
             shared = os.path.join (