diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -159,9 +159,7 @@ osx:
 
 deb:
 	mkdir -p packages/debian-unknown
-	contrib/builddeb
-	mv debbuild/*.deb packages/debian-unknown
-	rm -rf debbuild
+	contrib/builddeb --release unknown
 
 docker-debian-jessie:
 	mkdir -p packages/debian-jessie
diff --git a/contrib/builddeb b/contrib/builddeb
--- a/contrib/builddeb
+++ b/contrib/builddeb
@@ -7,9 +7,14 @@
 . $(dirname $0)/packagelib.sh
 
 BUILD=1
-DEBBUILDDIR="$PWD/debbuild"
+DEBVERSION=jessie
 while [ "$1" ]; do
     case "$1" in
+    --release )
+        shift
+        DEBVERSION="$1"
+        shift
+        ;;
     --prepare )
         shift
         BUILD=
@@ -26,6 +31,8 @@ while [ "$1" ]; do
     esac
 done
 
+DEBBUILDDIR=${OUTPUTDIR:="$PWD/debbuild"}
+
 set -u
 
 rm -rf $DEBBUILDDIR
diff --git a/contrib/dockerdeb b/contrib/dockerdeb
--- a/contrib/dockerdeb
+++ b/contrib/dockerdeb
@@ -8,13 +8,14 @@ export ROOTDIR=$(cd $BUILDDIR/..; pwd)
 
 checkdocker
 
+DEBPLATFORM="$1"
 PLATFORM="debian-$1"
 shift # extra params are passed to build process
 
 initcontainer $PLATFORM
 
-DEBBUILDDIR=$ROOTDIR/packages/$PLATFORM
-contrib/builddeb --debbuilddir $DEBBUILDDIR/staged --prepare
+DEBBUILDDIR=${OUTPUTDIR:=$ROOTDIR/packages/$PLATFORM}
+OUTPUTDIR=$DEBBUILDDIR/staged contrib/builddeb --release $DEBPLATFORM --prepare
 
 DSHARED=/mnt/shared/
 if [ $(uname) = "Darwin" ] ; then