diff --git a/src/FqBaseBackend.cpp b/src/FqBaseBackend.cpp
index abd2c9217f7cc845b584a32c39856f4d0db403c8..b702d5bf7c8ae2cd753ae47f043f9206a18c94a8 100644
--- a/src/FqBaseBackend.cpp
+++ b/src/FqBaseBackend.cpp
@@ -14,7 +14,12 @@
 
 
 #include "FqBaseBackend.h"
+#define DEBUG
 
+#ifdef DEBUG
+#include <iostream>
+using namespace std;
+#endif
 
 void FqBaseBackend::openFile(char * ficname, unsigned char id) {
     int st,s;
@@ -54,6 +59,9 @@ void FqBaseBackend::openFile() {
         err_msg+=" is already open!";
         throw std::runtime_error(err_msg);
     }
+#ifdef DEBUG
+cout<<"going to open file : "<<filename<<" id="<<f_id<<endl;
+#endif
     openFile(filename,f_id);
 }