diff --git a/runtime/include/admissions_info.h b/runtime/include/admissions_info.h
index 591cffc..d61ae8c 100644
--- a/runtime/include/admissions_info.h
+++ b/runtime/include/admissions_info.h
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #pragma once
 
+#include "debuglog.h"
 #include "perf_window.h"
 
 struct admissions_info {
diff --git a/runtime/include/client_socket.h b/runtime/include/client_socket.h
index a4c60fc..5ca0868 100644
--- a/runtime/include/client_socket.h
+++ b/runtime/include/client_socket.h
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@
 static inline void
 client_socket_close(int client_socket)
 {
-	// debuglog("Closing Socket\n");
 	if (close(client_socket) < 0) debuglog("Error closing client socket - %s", strerror(errno));
 }
 
diff --git a/runtime/include/debuglog.h b/runtime/include/debuglog.h
index 8ff46b6..0b877d0 100644
--- a/runtime/include/debuglog.h
+++ b/runtime/include/debuglog.h
@@ -7,18 +7,20 @@
 extern int32_t debuglog_file_descriptor;
 
 #ifdef LOG_TO_FILE
-#ifndef DEBUG
-#error LOG_TO_FILE is only valid if in DEBUG mode
-#endif /* DEBUG */
+#ifdef NDEBUG
+#error LOG_TO_FILE is invalid if NDEBUG is set
+#endif /* NDEBUG */
 #endif /* LOG_TO_FILE */
 
 /**
- * debuglog is a macro that behaves based on the macros DEBUG and LOG_TO_FILE
- * If DEBUG is not set, debuglog does nothing
- * If DEBUG is set and LOG_TO_FILE is set, debuglog prints to the logfile defined in debuglog_file_descriptor
- * If DEBUG is set and LOG_TO_FILE is not set, debuglog prints to STDOUT
+ * debuglog is a macro that behaves based on the macros NDEBUG and LOG_TO_FILE
+ * If NDEBUG is set, debuglog does nothing
+ * If NDEBUG is not set and LOG_TO_FILE is set, debuglog prints to the logfile defined in debuglog_file_descriptor
+ * If NDEBUG is not set and LOG_TO_FILE is not set, debuglog prints to STDERR
  */
-#ifdef DEBUG
+#ifdef NDEBUG
+#define debuglog(fmt, ...)
+#else /* NDEBUG */
 #ifdef LOG_TO_FILE
 #define debuglog(fmt, ...)                                                                                           \
 	dprintf(debuglog_file_descriptor, "C: %02d, T: 0x%lx, F: %s> \n\t" fmt "\n", sched_getcpu(), pthread_self(), \
@@ -28,6 +30,4 @@ extern int32_t debuglog_file_descriptor;
 	fprintf(stderr, "C: %02d, T: 0x%lx, F: %s> \n\t" fmt "\n", sched_getcpu(), pthread_self(), __func__, \
 	        ##__VA_ARGS__);
 #endif /* LOG_TO_FILE */
-#else  /* !DEBUG */
-#define debuglog(fmt, ...)
-#endif /* DEBUG */
+#endif /* !NDEBUG */
diff --git a/runtime/include/module_database.h b/runtime/include/module_database.h
index af5e1cc..e973399 100644
--- a/runtime/include/module_database.h
+++ b/runtime/include/module_database.h
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 #include <errno.h>
 
-#include "debuglog.h"
+#include "panic.h"
 #include "module.h"
 
 struct module *module_database_find_by_name(char *name);
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ module_database_add(struct module *module)
 done:
 	return rc;
 err_no_space:
-	debuglog("Cannot add module. Database is full.\n");
+	panic("Cannot add module. Database is full.\n");
 	rc = -ENOSPC;
 	goto done;
 }
diff --git a/runtime/include/runtime.h b/runtime/include/runtime.h
index 1fe1790..2ac8826 100644
--- a/runtime/include/runtime.h
+++ b/runtime/include/runtime.h
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 #define LISTENER_THREAD_CORE_ID          0 /* Dedicated Listener Core */
 #define LISTENER_THREAD_MAX_EPOLL_EVENTS 128
 
-#define RUNTIME_LOG_FILE                  "awesome.log"
+#define RUNTIME_LOG_FILE                  "sledge.log"
 #define RUNTIME_MAX_SANDBOX_REQUEST_COUNT (1 << 19) /* random! */
 #define RUNTIME_READ_WRITE_VECTOR_LENGTH  16
 
diff --git a/runtime/include/sandbox.h b/runtime/include/sandbox.h
index c91ae90..bd4f620 100644
--- a/runtime/include/sandbox.h
+++ b/runtime/include/sandbox.h
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 
 #include "arch/context.h"
 #include "client_socket.h"
-#include "debuglog.h"
 #include "deque.h"
 #include "http_request.h"
 #include "http_response.h"
diff --git a/runtime/include/sandbox_state.h b/runtime/include/sandbox_state.h
index 26ee213..8fd4f1a 100644
--- a/runtime/include/sandbox_state.h
+++ b/runtime/include/sandbox_state.h
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 #include <stdatomic.h>
 
+#include "debuglog.h"
 #include "likely.h"
 #include "panic.h"
 
diff --git a/runtime/include/worker_thread.h b/runtime/include/worker_thread.h
index 5df3f97..4ff06db 100644
--- a/runtime/include/worker_thread.h
+++ b/runtime/include/worker_thread.h
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@
 
 #include "runtime.h"
 
+#ifndef NCORES
+#warning "NCORES not defined in Makefile. Defaulting to 2"
+#define NCORES 2
+#endif
+
 #if NCORES == 1
 #error "RUNTIME MINIMUM REQUIREMENT IS 2 CORES"
 #endif
diff --git a/runtime/src/http_parser_settings.c b/runtime/src/http_parser_settings.c
index 16ac6ba..f06c52e 100644
--- a/runtime/src/http_parser_settings.c
+++ b/runtime/src/http_parser_settings.c
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+#include "debuglog.h"
 #include "http.h"
 #include "http_request.h"
 #include "http_response.h"
diff --git a/runtime/src/local_runqueue_list.c b/runtime/src/local_runqueue_list.c
index ba5e8a1..92b5cc8 100644
--- a/runtime/src/local_runqueue_list.c
+++ b/runtime/src/local_runqueue_list.c
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 #include "client_socket.h"
-#include "debuglog.h"
 #include "local_runqueue_list.h"
 #include "local_runqueue.h"
 #include "global_request_scheduler.h"
diff --git a/runtime/src/main.c b/runtime/src/main.c
index e08db16..faca901 100644
--- a/runtime/src/main.c
+++ b/runtime/src/main.c
@@ -16,10 +16,8 @@
 #include "software_interrupt.h"
 #include "worker_thread.h"
 
-/* Conditionally used by debuglog when DEBUG is set */
-#ifdef DEBUG
+/* Conditionally used by debuglog when NDEBUG is not set */
 int32_t debuglog_file_descriptor = -1;
-#endif
 
 float    runtime_processor_speed_MHz                          = 0;
 uint32_t runtime_total_online_processors                      = 0;
@@ -41,7 +39,7 @@ int                    runtime_worker_core_count;
 static void
 runtime_usage(char *cmd)
 {
-	debuglog("%s <modules_file>\n", cmd);
+	printf("%s <modules_file>\n", cmd);
 }
 
 /**
@@ -80,7 +78,8 @@ runtime_allocate_available_cores()
 {
 	/* Find the number of processors currently online */
 	runtime_total_online_processors = sysconf(_SC_NPROCESSORS_ONLN);
-	uint32_t max_possible_workers   = runtime_total_online_processors - 1;
+	printf("Detected %u cores\n", runtime_total_online_processors);
+	uint32_t max_possible_workers = runtime_total_online_processors - 1;
 
 	if (runtime_total_online_processors < 2) panic("Runtime requires at least two cores!");
 
@@ -98,9 +97,8 @@ runtime_allocate_available_cores()
 		runtime_worker_threads_count = max_possible_workers;
 	}
 
-	debuglog("Number of cores %u, sandboxing cores %u (start: %u) and module reqs %u\n",
-	         runtime_total_online_processors, runtime_worker_threads_count, runtime_first_worker_processor,
-	         LISTENER_THREAD_CORE_ID);
+	printf("Running one listener core at ID %u and %u worker core(s) starting at ID %u\n", LISTENER_THREAD_CORE_ID,
+	       runtime_worker_threads_count, runtime_first_worker_processor);
 }
 
 /**
@@ -136,7 +134,6 @@ err:
 	goto done;
 }
 
-#ifdef DEBUG
 /**
  * Controls the behavior of the debuglog macro defined in types.h
  * If LOG_TO_FILE is defined, close stdin, stdout, stderr, and debuglog writes to a logfile named awesome.log.
@@ -157,7 +154,6 @@ runtime_process_debug_log_behavior()
 	debuglog_file_descriptor = STDOUT_FILENO;
 #endif /* LOG_TO_FILE */
 }
-#endif /* DEBUG */
 
 /**
  * Starts all worker threads and sleeps forever on pthread_join, which should never return
@@ -165,6 +161,7 @@ runtime_process_debug_log_behavior()
 void
 runtime_start_runtime_worker_threads()
 {
+	printf("Starting %d worker thread(s)\n", runtime_worker_threads_count);
 	for (int i = 0; i < runtime_worker_threads_count; i++) {
 		int ret = pthread_create(&runtime_worker_threads[i], NULL, worker_thread_main,
 		                         (void *)&runtime_worker_threads_argument[i]);
@@ -208,10 +205,12 @@ runtime_configure()
 	} else {
 		panic("Invalid scheduler policy: %s. Must be {EDF|FIFO}\n", scheduler_policy);
 	}
+	printf("Scheduler Policy: %s\n", print_runtime_scheduler(runtime_scheduler));
 
 	/* Runtime Perf Log */
 	char *runtime_sandbox_perf_log_path = getenv("SLEDGE_SANDBOX_PERF_LOG");
 	if (runtime_sandbox_perf_log_path != NULL) {
+		printf("Logging Sandbox Performance to: %s\n", runtime_sandbox_perf_log_path);
 		runtime_sandbox_perf_log = fopen(runtime_sandbox_perf_log_path, "w");
 		if (runtime_sandbox_perf_log == NULL) { perror("sandbox perf log"); }
 		fprintf(runtime_sandbox_perf_log,
@@ -222,11 +221,9 @@ runtime_configure()
 int
 main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
-#ifdef DEBUG
 	runtime_process_debug_log_behavior();
-#endif
 
-	debuglog("Initializing the runtime\n");
+	printf("Starting the Sledge runtime\n");
 	if (argc != 2) {
 		runtime_usage(argv[0]);
 		exit(-1);
@@ -237,7 +234,7 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 	runtime_processor_speed_MHz                    = runtime_get_processor_speed_MHz();
 	software_interrupt_interval_duration_in_cycles = (uint64_t)SOFTWARE_INTERRUPT_INTERVAL_DURATION_IN_USEC
 	                                                 * runtime_processor_speed_MHz;
-	debuglog("Detected processor speed of %f MHz\n", runtime_processor_speed_MHz);
+	printf("Detected processor speed of %f MHz\n", runtime_processor_speed_MHz);
 
 	runtime_set_resource_limits_to_max();
 	runtime_allocate_available_cores();
@@ -248,9 +245,6 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 #endif
 	if (module_new_from_json(argv[1])) panic("failed to parse modules file[%s]\n", argv[1]);
 
-	debuglog("Scheduler Policy: %s\n", print_runtime_scheduler(runtime_scheduler));
-	debuglog("Starting listener thread\n");
 	listener_thread_initialize();
-	debuglog("Starting %d worker thread(s)\n", runtime_worker_threads_count);
 	runtime_start_runtime_worker_threads();
 }
diff --git a/runtime/src/runtime.c b/runtime/src/runtime.c
index df218f8..28a63f9 100644
--- a/runtime/src/runtime.c
+++ b/runtime/src/runtime.c
@@ -190,6 +190,7 @@ listener_thread_main(void *dummy)
 void
 listener_thread_initialize(void)
 {
+	printf("Starting listener thread\n");
 	cpu_set_t cs;
 
 	CPU_ZERO(&cs);
diff --git a/runtime/src/worker_thread.c b/runtime/src/worker_thread.c
index caea395..2887b5f 100644
--- a/runtime/src/worker_thread.c
+++ b/runtime/src/worker_thread.c
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ __thread uint64_t worker_thread_start_timestamp;
 static inline void
 worker_thread_dump_lock_overhead()
 {
-#ifdef DEBUG
+#ifndef NDEBUG
 #ifdef LOG_LOCK_OVERHEAD
 	uint64_t worker_duration = __getcycles() - worker_thread_start_timestamp;
 	debuglog("Locks consumed %lu / %lu cycles, or %f%%\n", worker_thread_lock_duration, worker_duration,