diff --git a/R/pkg_harness_create.R b/R/pkg_harness_create.R
index 15efae22..de6e1efd 100644
--- a/R/pkg_harness_create.R
+++ b/R/pkg_harness_create.R
@@ -13,21 +13,30 @@ deepstate_pkg_create<-function(package_path){
   package_path <-normalizePath(package_path, mustWork=TRUE)
   package_path <- sub("/$","",package_path)
   inst_path <- file.path(package_path, "inst")
-  if(!dir.exists(inst_path)){
-    dir.create(inst_path)
-  }
   test_path <- file.path(inst_path,"testfiles")
-  packagename <- basename(package_path)
+
+  # Test directory structure initialization
   unlink(test_path, recursive = TRUE)
-  if(!file.exists(file.path(package_path,"src/*.so"))){
+  if(!dir.exists(inst_path)) {
+    dir.create(inst_path)
+  }
+  dir.create(test_path,showWarnings = FALSE)
+
+  if(!file.exists(file.path(package_path,"src/*.so"))) {
+    # ensure that the debugging symbols are embedded in the resulting shared object
+    makevars_file <- file.path(package_path, "src", "Makevars")
+    makevars_content <- "PKG_CXXFLAGS += -g "
+    write(makevars_content, makevars_file, append=FALSE)
+
     system(paste0("R CMD INSTALL ",package_path),intern = FALSE,ignore.stderr =TRUE,ignore.stdout = TRUE)
+    unlink(makevars_file, recursive = FALSE)
   }
+
   if(!(file.exists("~/.RcppDeepState/deepstate-master/build/libdeepstate32.a") &&
        file.exists("~/.RcppDeepState/deepstate-master/build/libdeepstate.a")))
   {
     RcppDeepState::deepstate_make_run()
   }
-  dir.create(test_path,showWarnings = FALSE)
   Rcpp::compileAttributes(package_path)
   harness <- list()
   failed.harness <- list()