diff --git a/debian/conf/gitlab-debian.conf.example b/debian/conf/gitlab-debian.conf.example
index 1ef2d433b4..ebf2701131 100644
--- a/debian/conf/gitlab-debian.conf.example
+++ b/debian/conf/gitlab-debian.conf.example
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 # Variables with all caps are passed to gitlab app
 RAILS_ENV=production
 DB=postgres
+# This will be replaced by debian/rules at the time of build.
+GITLAB_DEBIAN_VERSION="__NEW_VERSION__"
+SALSA_TAG_URL="https://salsa.debian.org/ruby-team/gitlab/tags/debian/"
 gitlab_app_root=/usr/share/gitlab
 gitlab_data_dir=/var/lib/gitlab
 gitlab_pid_path=/run/gitlab
diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index 0cc07d592d..00ea826afe 100755
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/make -f
 
+include /usr/share/dpkg/pkg-info.mk
+
 %:
 	dh $@ --with=systemd
 
@@ -13,6 +15,7 @@ override_dh_install:
 	mv debian/gitlab/usr/share/gitlab/app/assets/javascripts/locale \
 	debian/gitlab/usr/share/gitlab/app/assets/javascripts/locale.static
 	mv debian/gitlab/var/lib/gitlab/db/schema.rb debian/gitlab/var/lib/gitlab/db/schema.rb.template
+	sed -i 's/__NEW_VERSION__/${DEB_VERSION}/g' debian/gitlab/usr/lib/gitlab/templates/gitlab-debian.conf.example
 
 override_dh_installinit:
 	dh_installinit --no-start -p gitlab --name=gitlab-sidekiq