diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yml b/.github/workflows/build.yml
index 2967c999721..bc9844dc3be 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yml
@@ -45,6 +45,42 @@ jobs:
         with:
           name: kubo
           path: cmd/ipfs/ipfs
+  debian-prep:
+    needs: [interop-prep]
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 10
+    env:
+      TEST_DOCKER: 0
+      TEST_FUSE: 0
+      TEST_VERBOSE: 1
+      TRAVIS: 1
+      GIT_PAGER: cat
+      IPFS_CHECK_RCMGR_DEFAULTS: 1
+    defaults:
+      run:
+        shell: bash
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/setup-go@v5
+        with:
+          go-version: ${{ env.GO_VERSION }}
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          submodules: 'true'
+          fetch-depth: 0
+      - run: |
+          sudo apt-get update
+          sudo apt-get install -y debhelper curl gcc sed gawk dpkg-dev build-essential devscripts
+          go mod vendor
+          LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8 ./debian/mkchangelog ./debian/changelog
+          GOFLAGS="-mod=vendor" debuild -S -uc -us -d
+          GOFLAGS="-mod=vendor" debuild -b -uc -us -d
+          mkdir packages
+          mv -v ../ipfs-kubo*.* packages/
+      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: kubo-debian
+          path: |
+            packages/ipfs-kubo*.*
   helia-interop:
     needs: [interop-prep]
     runs-on: ${{ fromJSON(github.repository == 'ipfs/kubo' && '["self-hosted", "linux", "x64", "2xlarge"]' || '"ubuntu-latest"') }}
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index cb147456b11..582031033d0 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -33,3 +33,4 @@ docs/examples/go-ipfs-as-a-library/example-folder/Qm*
 /parts
 /stage
 /prime
+.cache
diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e4e69fdf92a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[submodule "debian"]
+	path = debian
+	url = https://github.com/twdragon/kubo-debian-pkg.git
diff --git a/debian b/debian
new file mode 160000
index 00000000000..4f54626d06e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 4f54626d06e135bc00286fb5b8a42db5a6f3a898