diff --git a/config.sh b/config.sh
index 0ae46e7..c9ce526 100755
--- a/config.sh
+++ b/config.sh
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@ fi
 
 
 function _configure() {
+	# TODO: maybe fix this
+	# NOTE: setting options other than the defaults and reconfiguring works
+	# switching from custom options to defaults doesn't...
+
 	# Load config for shellcheck
 	# shellcheck source=/etc/etools/etools.conf
 	[ -f "/etc/etools/etools.conf" ] && . "/etc/etools/etools.conf"
@@ -52,5 +56,5 @@ function _configure() {
 
 	ETOOLS_GREP_CMD=${ETOOLS_GREP_CMD:-"rg"}
 
-	ETOOLS_DEBUG=${ETOOLS_DEBUG:-:}
+	ETOOLS_DEBUG=${ETOOLS_DEBUG:-true}
 }
diff --git a/helper.sh b/helper.sh
index c8d6cd3..27e2d0b 100755
--- a/helper.sh
+++ b/helper.sh
@@ -23,13 +23,14 @@ function _formatted_find() {
 			# use wordsplitting
 			# shellcheck disable=SC2086
 			fd $ETOOLS_FIND_ARGS "${1}" "${2}"
-			[ "${ETOOLS_DEBUG}" ] && einfo fd "${1}" "${2}" "$ETOOLS_FIND_ARGS" >&2
+			[ "$ETOOLS_DEBUG" = "true" ] && einfo fd "${1}" "${2}" "$ETOOLS_FIND_ARGS" >&2
 		else
 			# shellcheck disable=SC2086
 			"$ETOOLS_FIND_CMD" "${2}" $ETOOLS_FIND_ARGS "${1}"
-			[ "${ETOOLS_DEBUG}" ] && einfo "${ETOOLS_FIND_CMD}" "${2}" "$ETOOLS_FIND_ARGS" "${1}" >&2
+			[ "$ETOOLS_DEBUG" = "true" ] && einfo "${ETOOLS_FIND_CMD}" "${2}" "$ETOOLS_FIND_ARGS" "${1}" >&2
 		fi
 	else
+		# TODO: do this with bash expansion only
 		eval '$(echo "${ETOOLS_FIND_COMMAND//\{repo\}/${2}}" | sed -e "s/{package}/${1}/g")'
 	fi
 }