diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 2ba9d22..776ab13 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,3 +4,4 @@
 /packages
 /deploys
 /node_modules
+/pkg/control
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 4131463..89f2000 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -65,7 +65,10 @@
       }
     },
     "deb": {
-      "afterInstall": "build/linux/after-install.tpl"
+      "afterInstall": "build/linux/after-install.tpl",
+      "fpm": [
+        "--deb-custom-control=pkg/control"
+      ]
     },
     "mac": {
       "category": "public.app-category.social-networking",
diff --git a/pkg/control.template b/pkg/control.template
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8835e61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/control.template
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+Package: riot-desktop
+License: Apache-2.0
+Vendor: support@riot.im
+Architecture: amd64
+Maintainer: support@riot.im
+Depends: libgtk-3-0, libnotify4, libnss3, libxss1, libxtst6, xdg-utils, libatspi2.0-0, libuuid1, libappindicator3-1, libsecret-1-0
+Provides: riot-web
+Conflicts: riot-web
+Replaces: riot-web
+Section: default
+Priority: extra
+Homepage: https://riot.im/
+Description: 
+  A feature-rich client for Matrix.org
diff --git a/scripts/set-version.js b/scripts/set-version.js
index 5786d3c..5374914 100755
--- a/scripts/set-version.js
+++ b/scripts/set-version.js
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ async function main() {
     }
 
     const ver = asar.extractFile('webapp.asar', 'version').toString().trim();
+
+    // set version in package.json: electron-builder will use this to populate
+    // all the various version fields
     await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
         child_process.execFile('yarn', [
             'version',
@@ -33,6 +36,15 @@ async function main() {
             }
         });
     });
+
+    // Also create a debian package control file with the version.
+    // We use a custom control file so we need to do this ourselves
+    const outFile = await fs.open('pkg/control', 'w');
+    const template = await fs.readFile('pkg/control.template');
+    await outFile.write(template);
+    await outFile.write('Version: ' + ver + "\n");
+    await outFile.close();
+
     console.log("Version set to " + ver);
 }