diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ osx:
 
 deb:
 	mkdir -p packages/debian-unknown
-	contrib/builddeb --release unknown
+	contrib/builddeb --codename unknown
 
 docker-debian-jessie:
 	mkdir -p packages/debian-jessie
diff --git a/contrib/builddeb b/contrib/builddeb
--- a/contrib/builddeb
+++ b/contrib/builddeb
@@ -8,12 +8,12 @@
 
 BUILD=1
 CLEANUP=1
-DEBVERSION=jessie
+CODENAME=jessie
 while [ "$1" ]; do
     case "$1" in
-    --release )
+    --codename )
         shift
-        DEBVERSION="$1"
+        CODENAME="$1"
         shift
         ;;
     --cleanup )
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ if [ "$BUILD" ]; then
 fi
 if [ "$CLEANUP" ] ; then
     echo
-    OUTPUTDIR=${OUTPUTDIR:=packages/debian-$DEBVERSION}
+    OUTPUTDIR=${OUTPUTDIR:=packages/debian-$CODENAME}
     find ../mercurial*.deb ../mercurial_*.build ../mercurial_*.changes \
           -type f -newer $control -print0 | \
       xargs -Inarf -0 mv narf "$OUTPUTDIR"
diff --git a/contrib/dockerdeb b/contrib/dockerdeb
--- a/contrib/dockerdeb
+++ b/contrib/dockerdeb
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ export ROOTDIR=$(cd $BUILDDIR/..; pwd)
 
 checkdocker
 
-DEBPLATFORM="$1"
+CODENAME="$1"
 PLATFORM="debian-$1"
 shift # extra params are passed to build process
 
@@ -26,8 +26,8 @@ if [ $(uname) = "Darwin" ] ; then
             sh -c "cd /mnt/$dn && make clean && make local"
 fi
 $DOCKER run -u $DBUILDUSER --rm -v $PWD/..:/mnt $CONTAINER \
-  sh -c "cd /mnt/$dn && DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS='${DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS:=}' contrib/builddeb --build --release $DEBPLATFORM"
-contrib/builddeb --cleanup --release $DEBPLATFORM
+  sh -c "cd /mnt/$dn && DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS='${DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS:=}' contrib/builddeb --build --codename $CODENAME"
+contrib/builddeb --cleanup --codename $CODENAME
 if [ $(uname) = "Darwin" ] ; then
     $DOCKER run -u $DBUILDUSER --rm -v $PWD/..:/mnt $CONTAINER \
             sh -c "cd /mnt/$dn && make clean"