diff --git a/include/vast/Frontend/GenAction.hpp b/include/vast/Frontend/GenAction.hpp
index 6941375d10..5e68c27f5a 100644
--- a/include/vast/Frontend/GenAction.hpp
+++ b/include/vast/Frontend/GenAction.hpp
@@ -30,7 +30,9 @@ namespace vast::cc {
         constexpr string_ref emit_obj  = "emit-obj";
         constexpr string_ref emit_asm  = "emit-asm";
 
-        constexpr string_ref emit_mlir  = "emit-mlir";
+        constexpr string_ref emit_mlir = "emit-mlir";
+
+        constexpr string_ref emit_locs = "emit-locs";
 
         constexpr string_ref opt_pipeline  = "pipeline";
 
diff --git a/lib/vast/Frontend/GenAction.cpp b/lib/vast/Frontend/GenAction.cpp
index a8a248656e..c4ba3568a5 100644
--- a/lib/vast/Frontend/GenAction.cpp
+++ b/lib/vast/Frontend/GenAction.cpp
@@ -282,7 +282,10 @@ namespace vast::cc {
 
             // FIXME: we cannot roundtrip prettyForm=true right now.
             mlir::OpPrintingFlags flags;
-            flags.enableDebugInfo(/* prettyForm */ false);
+            flags.enableDebugInfo(
+                vargs.has_option(opt::emit_locs), /* prettyForm */ true
+            );
+
             mod->print(*output_stream, flags);
         }