diff --git a/src/x11/clipbrd.cpp b/src/x11/clipbrd.cpp
index 1e8fa4ba38..69494fb10b 100644
--- a/src/x11/clipbrd.cpp
+++ b/src/x11/clipbrd.cpp
@@ -32,8 +32,9 @@ Atom  g_clipboardAtom   = 0;
 Atom  g_targetsAtom     = 0;
 #endif
 
-// avoid warnings about unused static variable
-#if defined(__WXDEBUG__) && defined(HAVE_VARIADIC_MACROS)
+// avoid warnings about unused static variable (notice that we still use it
+// even in release build if the compiler doesn't support variadic macros)
+#if defined(__WXDEBUG__) || !defined(HAVE_VARIADIC_MACROS)
 
 // the trace mask we use with wxLogTrace() - call
 // wxLog::AddTraceMask(TRACE_CLIPBOARD) to enable the trace messages from here