diff --git a/kernel-shared/send.h b/kernel-shared/send.h
index 34de60ff..c6d0fd6d 100644
--- a/kernel-shared/send.h
+++ b/kernel-shared/send.h
@@ -25,7 +25,11 @@
 
 #define BTRFS_SEND_STREAM_MAGIC "btrfs-stream"
 /* Conditional support for the upcoming protocol version. */
-#ifdef CONFIG_BTRFS_DEBUG
+/*
+ * Note: this is CONFIG_BTRFS_DEBUG in kernel but for btrfs-progs it must be
+ * enabled in experimental mode.
+ */
+#if EXPERIMENTAL
 #define BTRFS_SEND_STREAM_VERSION 3
 #else
 #define BTRFS_SEND_STREAM_VERSION 2