diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index 96e2497b8e..f5761bdb1e 100644
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -9,12 +9,21 @@ package=gnucash
 
 id= $(shell pwd)/debian/tmp
 
-#perlpriv =  $(id)$(shell perl -V:installprivlib | perl -pe 's/.*\'(.*)\'.*/\1/;')
-#perlarch = $(id)$(shell perl -V:installarchlib | perl -pe 's/.*\'(.*)\'.*/\1/;')
-
 configure: configure.in
-	automake
-	autoconf
+	./autogen.sh --prefix=/usr \
+		--sysconfdir=/etc \
+		--infodir=/usr/share/info \
+		--mandir=/usr/share/man \
+		--enable-etags \
+		--enable-error-on-warnings
+
+Makefile.in: Makefile.am
+	./autogen.sh --prefix=/usr \
+		--sysconfdir=/etc \
+		--infodir=/usr/share/info \
+		--mandir=/usr/share/man \
+		--enable-etags \
+		--enable-error-on-warnings
 
 Makefile: Makefile.in configure
 	dh_testdir
@@ -23,6 +32,7 @@ Makefile: Makefile.in configure
 		--sysconfdir=/etc \
 		--infodir=/usr/share/info \
 		--mandir=/usr/share/man \
+		--enable-etags \
 		--enable-error-on-warnings
 
 # --enable-efence \
@@ -53,13 +63,6 @@ install-stamp: build-stamp
 	make install prefix=$(id)/usr sysconfdir=$(id)/etc GNC_DOC_INSTALL_DIR=$(id)/usr/share/doc/gnucash infodir=$(id)/usr/share/info mandir=$(id)/usr/share/man
 	rm -f $(id)/usr/share/doc/gnucash/COPYING.gz
 
-	# no perl anymore
-	#mkdir -p $(perlpriv)
-	#mv $(id)/usr/share/gnucash/perl/gnucash.pm $(perlpriv)
-	#mkdir -p $(perlarch)
-	#mv $(id)/usr/share/gnucash/perl/* $(perlarch)
-	#-rmdir -p $(id)/usr/share/gnucash/perl
-
 	touch install-stamp
 
 binary-indep: build install
@@ -78,7 +81,6 @@ binary-arch: build install
 #	dh_undocumented		gnc-prices.1 gnucash.1x gnucash.motif.1x
 	dh_installchangelogs	ChangeLog
 #	dh_strip
-#	cp src/.libs/gnucash $(id)/usr/bin/gnucash.debug
 	dh_compress
 	dh_fixperms
 	dh_installdeb