diff --git a/profiles/base/make.defaults b/profiles/base/make.defaults
index f290165506bfc08dd7974cca8c3fad94ed5c035e..f39eed52f061b20b114f4d6da7f1d8f3417eac8c 100644
--- a/profiles/base/make.defaults
+++ b/profiles/base/make.defaults
@@ -45,7 +45,10 @@ USE="cxx icu -introspection ipv6 modules ssl unicode xattr"
 
 # Auto-build .apks, always
 PORTAGE_BINPKG_FORMAT="apk"
-FEATURES="buildpkg"
+FEATURES="buildpkg splitdebug"
+
+# Use curl instead of wget for fetching.
+FETCHCOMMAND="curl -f -L -o \"\${DISTDIR}\"/\"\${FILE}\" \"\${URI}\""
 
 # This masks files on EVERY SYSTEM running Adélie.  BE CAREFUL!
 # Specifically, do not mask systemd unit files or such from the base profile.