diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index ac00ee22ad0cab35c6f9108845ad64f2482918e2..fc30cf29750c2b9620e5767a9c90701320e07347 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ documents those changes that are of interest to users and admins.
  -- Add slurmctld and slurmd binding to appropriate communications address
     based upon NodeAddr, ControllerAddr and BackupAddr configuration 
     parameters. Patch from Matthieu Hautreux, CEA.
+    NOTE: Failing on Debian Linux. 
+    NOTE: You must define BIND_SPECIFIC_ADDR to enable this option.
 
 * Changes in SLURM 1.4.0-pre13
 ==============================
diff --git a/src/common/slurm_protocol_api.c b/src/common/slurm_protocol_api.c
index 184dba9e26d0291e479ff661b71f9099f6c4d93c..4f35dcc7b455fc4ba30691728833ac2a184217d6 100644
--- a/src/common/slurm_protocol_api.c
+++ b/src/common/slurm_protocol_api.c
@@ -1627,12 +1627,16 @@ slurm_fd slurm_init_msg_engine_port(uint16_t port)
  */
 slurm_fd slurm_init_msg_engine_addrname_port(char *addr_name, uint16_t port)
 {
-	slurm_addr addr;
+        slurm_addr addr;
 
+#ifdef BIND_SPECIFIC_ADDR
 	if (addr_name != NULL)
 		slurm_set_addr(&addr, port, addr_name);
 	else
 		slurm_set_addr_any(&addr, port);
+#else
+        slurm_set_addr_any(&addr, port);
+#endif
 
 	return _slurm_init_msg_engine(&addr);
 }