In order to perform a complete (re)build of a package properly, you need to make sure you have installed the build-essential package, packages listed in the Build-Depends field (see Section 4.1, “control”), and packages listed in the Build-Depends-indep field (see Section 4.1, “control”). Then you issue the following command in the source directory: $ dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc This will do everyth