diff --git a/debian/control b/debian/control
index 71bf9ea1..73d15aba 100644
--- a/debian/control
+++ b/debian/control
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ Description: The Common Error Description library
 Package: comerr-dev
 Section: libdevel
 Priority: extra
-Depends: libcomerr2
+Depends: libc6-dev | libc-dev, libcomerr2
 Suggests: doc-base
 Replaces: e2fslibs-dev (<< 1.33-2), libkrb5-dev (<< 1.3)
 Architecture: any
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ Description: Command-line interface parsing library
 Package: ss-dev
 Section: libdevel
 Priority: extra
-Depends: libss2
+Depends: libc6-dev | libc-dev, libss2
 Architecture: any
 Description: Command-line interface parsing library - headers and static libraries
  This package includes a tool that parses a command table to generate
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ Description: Universally unique id library
 Package: uuid-dev
 Section: libdevel
 Priority: extra
-Depends: libuuid1 (= ${Source-Version})
+Depends: libc6-dev | libc-dev, libuuid1 (= ${Source-Version})
 Replaces: e2fslibs-dev (<< 1.15)
 Architecture: any
 Description: Universally unique id library - headers and static libraries
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ Description: Block device id library
 Package: libblkid-dev
 Section: libdevel
 Priority: extra
-Depends: libblkid1 (= ${Source-Version})
+Depends: libc6-dev | libc-dev, libblkid1 (= ${Source-Version})
 Architecture: any
 Description: Block device id library - headers and static libraries
  The blkid library which allows system programs like fsck and 
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ Description: The EXT2 filesystem libraries
 Package: e2fslibs-dev
 Section: libdevel
 Priority: extra
-Depends: comerr-dev, e2fslibs (= ${Source-Version})
+Depends: libc6-dev | libc-dev, comerr-dev, e2fslibs (= ${Source-Version})
 Suggests: doc-base
 Provides: ext2fs-dev, e2p-dev
 Replaces: libkrb5-dev (<< 1.3)
diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index 8a600486..45c6167d 100644
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -10,20 +10,12 @@
 # be paranoid
 export LC_ALL=C
 
-DEB_BUILD_ARCH := $(shell dpkg --print-architecture)
-DEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE := $(shell ./config.guess)
-ifndef DEB_HOST_ARCH
-  DEB_HOST_ARCH := ${DEB_BUILD_ARCH}
-endif
-DEB_HOST_GNU_CPU := $(patsubst hurd-%,%,$(DEB_HOST_ARCH))
-ifeq ($(filter-out hurd-%,${DEB_HOST_ARCH}),)
-  DEB_HOST_GNU_SYSTEM := gnu
-else
-# FIXME: we won't have always just Hurd and Linux
-  DEB_HOST_GNU_SYSTEM := linux
-endif
-DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE := ${DEB_HOST_GNU_CPU}-${DEB_HOST_GNU_SYSTEM}
-
+# These are used for cross-compiling and for saving the configure script
+# from having to guess our platform (since we know it already)
+DEB_HOST_ARCH   ?= $(shell dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_ARCH)
+DEB_BUILD_ARCH   ?= $(shell dpkg-architecture -qDEB_BUILD_ARCH)
+DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE   ?= $(shell dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE)
+DEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE  ?= $(shell dpkg-architecture -qDEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE)
 
 # find the version for the main package, from changelog file
 MAIN_VERSION = $(shell head -1 debian/changelog | cut '-d ' -f 2 | sed 's/[()]//g')
@@ -68,7 +60,6 @@ BUILDSTDSTAMP=${STAMPSDIR}/build-std-stamp
 BUILDBFSTAMP=${STAMPSDIR}/build-bf-stamp
 
 CCOPTS = -O2 -fsigned-char
-LIBC-DEV = libc6-dev
 
 INSTALL = install
 INSTALL_PROGRAM = $(INSTALL) -p -o root -g root  -m  755
@@ -82,7 +73,6 @@ endif
 
 ifeq (${DEB_HOST_ARCH},alpha)
 CCOPTS += -DHAVE_NETINET_IN_H
-LIBC-DEV = libc6.1-dev
 else
 CCOPTS += -D__NO_STRING_INLINES
 endif