diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index 349c610..1f623d8 100755
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ ${BUILDDIR}/config.status: configure
 
 	# guest-agent is only required for guest systems
 	./configure \
+	--with-git-submodules=ignore \
 	--docdir=/usr/share/doc/pve-qemu-kvm \
 	--localstatedir=/var \
 	--prefix=/usr \