diff --git a/SConstruct b/SConstruct
index 6e56617..ea7b6a8 100644
--- a/SConstruct
+++ b/SConstruct
@@ -123,6 +123,13 @@ vars.Add(EnumVariable(
     'build',
     'compiler settings',
     'fast', allowed_values=('debug', 'fast')))
+vars.Add(EnumVariable(
+    'warnings',
+    'warning flags policy',
+    'none', allowed_values=('all', 'none', 'default')))
+vars.Add(BoolVariable(
+    'verbose',
+    'print build commands', False))
 vars.Add(EnumVariable(
     'tool',
     'C++ compiler toolkit to be used',
@@ -135,6 +142,8 @@ vars.Add(BoolVariable(
     'compile and link with the shared cctbx library', False))
 
 vars.Update(env)
+SetOption('silent', not env['verbose'])
+SetOption('no_progress', not env['verbose'])
 env.Help(MY_SCONS_HELP % vars.GenerateHelpText(env))
 
 # the CPPPATH directories are checked by scons dependency scanner
diff --git a/src/SConscript b/src/SConscript
index 53d5887..6c8e75f 100644
--- a/src/SConscript
+++ b/src/SConscript
@@ -30,19 +30,30 @@ if env['PLATFORM'] == 'darwin':
 if platform.system().lower() == "windows":
     # Visual c++
     env.PrependUnique(CCFLAGS=['/Ox', '/EHsc', '/MD', '/DREAL=double'])
+    if env['warnings'] == 'none':
+        env.PrependUnique(CCFLAGS=['/w'])
     env.AppendUnique(CPPDEFINES={'NDEBUG': None})
     # env.AppendUnique(LINKFLAGS='/EXPORT')
 else:
     # Use double precision for objcryst's REAL
     env.PrependUnique(CCFLAGS=['-DREAL=double'])
+    if env['warnings'] == 'none':
+        env.PrependUnique(LINKFLAGS=['-w'])
     if icpc:
         # options for Intel C++ compiler on hpc dev-intel07
-        env.PrependUnique(CCFLAGS=['-w1', '-fp-model', 'precise'])
+        if env['warnings'] == 'none':
+            env.PrependUnique(CCFLAGS=['-w'])
+        else:
+            env.PrependUnique(CCFLAGS=['-w1'])
+        env.PrependUnique(CCFLAGS=['-fp-model', 'precise'])
         env.PrependUnique(LIBS=['imf'])
         fast_optimflags = ['-fast', '-no-ipo']
     else:
         # g++ options
-        env.PrependUnique(CCFLAGS=['-Wall'])
+        if env['warnings'] == 'all':
+            env.PrependUnique(CCFLAGS=['-Wall'])
+        elif env['warnings'] == 'none':
+            env.PrependUnique(CCFLAGS=['-w'])
         fast_optimflags = ['-ffast-math']
 
     # Configure build variants
@@ -120,17 +131,6 @@ inc_target_path = lambda f: os.path.join(env['includedir'],
 include_targets = [inc_target_path(f) for f in env['lib_includes']]
 install_include = InstallAs(include_targets, env['lib_includes'])
 
-# DEBUG installation
-print("\nenv['lib_includes']:")
-for f in env['lib_includes']:
-    print(f"   {f.path}")
-print("\ninclude_targets:")
-for f in include_targets:
-    print(f"   {f}")
-print("\ninstall-include:")
-for f in install_include:
-    print(f"   {f.path}")
-
 Alias('install-include', install_include)
 
 # install