diff --git a/cranelift/Cargo.toml b/cranelift/Cargo.toml
index 4961a6fef6..543bbcf8a0 100644
--- a/cranelift/Cargo.toml
+++ b/cranelift/Cargo.toml
@@ -31,11 +31,3 @@ tempdir = "0.3.5"
 term = "0.5.1"
 
 [workspace]
-
-# Enable debug assertions and parallel compilation when building cretonne-tools
-# since they are for testing and development mostly. This doesn't affect the
-# flags used to build the cretonne-* crates when used as a dependency.
-[profile.release]
-opt-level = 2
-debug-assertions = true
-codegen-units = 4
diff --git a/cranelift/test-all.sh b/cranelift/test-all.sh
index ba3faf70b0..82ec347dac 100755
--- a/cranelift/test-all.sh
+++ b/cranelift/test-all.sh
@@ -41,15 +41,17 @@ if [ -n "$needcheck" ]; then
     touch $tsfile || echo no target directory
 fi
 
+# Make sure the code builds in release mode.
+banner "Rust release build"
+cargo build --release
+
 # Make sure the code builds in debug mode.
 banner "Rust debug build"
 cargo build
 
-# Make sure the code builds in release mode, and run the unit tests. We run
-# these in release mode for speed, but note that the top-level Cargo.toml file
-# does enable debug assertions in release builds.
-banner "Rust release build and unit tests"
-cargo test --all --release
+# Run the tests. We run these in debug mode so that assertions are enabled.
+banner "Rust unit tests"
+cargo test --all
 
 # Make sure the documentation builds.
 banner "Rust documentation: $topdir/target/doc/cretonne/index.html"
diff --git a/lib/module/src/data_context.rs b/lib/module/src/data_context.rs
index 510b549e90..51eac88b79 100644
--- a/lib/module/src/data_context.rs
+++ b/lib/module/src/data_context.rs
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ mod tests {
     fn basic_data_context() {
         let mut data_ctx = DataContext::new();
         {
-            let description = data_ctx.description();
+            let description = &data_ctx.description;
             assert_eq!(description.writable, Writability::Readonly);
             assert_eq!(description.init, Init::Uninitialized);
             assert!(description.function_decls.is_empty());
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ mod tests {
 
         data_ctx.clear();
         {
-            let description = data_ctx.description();
+            let description = &data_ctx.description;
             assert_eq!(description.writable, Writability::Readonly);
             assert_eq!(description.init, Init::Uninitialized);
             assert!(description.function_decls.is_empty());