diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 5e12a863c..6fb00cdee 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 Noteworthy changes in version 1.4.19 (unreleased)
 -------------------------------------------------
 
+ * Fix argument parsing for option --debug-level.
+
 
 Noteworthy changes in version 1.4.18 (2014-06-30)
 -------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/g10/gpg.c b/g10/gpg.c
index dbf2f40c5..1b0a364d8 100644
--- a/g10/gpg.c
+++ b/g10/gpg.c
@@ -518,7 +518,7 @@ static ARGPARSE_OPTS opts[] = {
     { oOptions, "options", 2, "@"},
     { oDebug, "debug"     ,4|16, "@"},
     { oDebugAll, "debug-all" ,0, "@"},
-    { oDebugLevel, "debug-level" ,0, "@"},
+    { oDebugLevel, "debug-level" ,2, "@"},
     { oStatusFD, "status-fd" ,1, "@"},
     { oStatusFile, "status-file" ,2, "@"},
     { oAttributeFD, "attribute-fd" ,1, "@" },