diff --git a/documentation/RELEASE_NOTES.html b/documentation/RELEASE_NOTES.html
index 1c8a906c5..0a1346075 100644
--- a/documentation/RELEASE_NOTES.html
+++ b/documentation/RELEASE_NOTES.html
@@ -15,6 +15,16 @@
 <h2 align="center">Changes made on the 3.15 branch since 3.15.4</h2>
 <!-- Insert new items immediately below here ... -->
 
+<h3>dbStatic Library Cleanup</h3>
+
+<p>Loading of database files has been optimized to avoid overproportionally
+long loading times for large databases. As a part of this, the alphabetical
+ordering of records instances (within a record type) has been dropped. In the
+unexpected case that applications were relying on the alphabetic order, setting
+<tt>dbRecordsAbcSorted = 1</tt> before loading the databases will retain the
+old behavior.</p>
+
+
 <h2 align="center">Changes from the 3.14 branch since 3.15.4</h2>
 <!-- Insert inherited items immediately below here ... -->
 
diff --git a/src/ioc/dbStatic/dbLexRoutines.c b/src/ioc/dbStatic/dbLexRoutines.c
index b9a1923d4..05edab618 100644
--- a/src/ioc/dbStatic/dbLexRoutines.c
+++ b/src/ioc/dbStatic/dbLexRoutines.c
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ epicsExportAddress(int,dbBptNotMonotonic);
 epicsShareDef int dbQuietMacroWarnings=0;
 epicsExportAddress(int,dbQuietMacroWarnings);
 
+epicsShareDef int dbRecordsAbcSorted=0;
+epicsExportAddress(int,dbRecordsAbcSorted);
+
 /*private routines */
 static void yyerrorAbort(char *str);
 static void allocTemp(void *pvoid);
@@ -298,7 +301,7 @@ static long dbReadCOM(DBBASE **ppdbbase,const char *filename, FILE *fp,
 	dbFinishEntry(pdbEntry);
     }
 cleanup:
-    {
+    if(dbRecordsAbcSorted) {
         ELLNODE *cur;
         for(cur = ellFirst(&pdbbase->recordTypeList); cur; cur=ellNext(cur))
         {