diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 378eac2..a777f81 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1 +1,9 @@
 build
+
+# debian build artifacts
+debian/*.debhelper.log
+debian/*.substvars
+debian/.debhelper/
+debian/files
+debian/libscitokens*/
+debian/tmp/
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 9e44401..4dfeedc 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 cmake_minimum_required( VERSION 2.6 )
 project( scitokens-cpp )
 
+include(GNUInstallDirs)
+
 option( BUILD_UNITTESTS "Build the scitokens-cpp unit tests" OFF )
 
 set( CMAKE_MODULE_PATH ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake )
@@ -66,14 +68,6 @@ target_link_libraries(scitokens-list-access SciTokens)
 add_executable(scitokens-create src/create.cpp)
 target_link_libraries(scitokens-create SciTokens)
 
-if (NOT DEFINED LIB_INSTALL_DIR)
-  SET(LIB_INSTALL_DIR "lib")
-endif()
-
-if (NOT DEFINED INCLUDE_INSTALL_DIR)
-  SET(INCLUDE_INSTALL_DIR "include")
-endif()
-
 if( BUILD_UNITTESTS )
 
 include(ExternalProject)
@@ -88,11 +82,11 @@ endif()
 
 install(
   TARGETS SciTokens
-  LIBRARY DESTINATION ${LIB_INSTALL_DIR} )
+  LIBRARY DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR} )
 
 install(
   FILES src/scitokens.h
-  DESTINATION ${INCLUDE_INSTALL_DIR}/scitokens )
+  DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR}/scitokens )
 
 set_target_properties(
   SciTokens
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..43eb68b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+scitokens-cpp (0.5.1-1) unstable; urgency=low
+
+  * first debian packaging
+
+ -- Duncan Macleod <duncan.macleod@ligo.org>  Fri, 11 Dec 2020 10:18:00 +0000
diff --git a/debian/compat b/debian/compat
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ec63514
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/compat
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+9
diff --git a/debian/control b/debian/control
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..211ed86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/control
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+Source: scitokens-cpp
+Section: science
+Priority: optional
+Maintainer: Derek Weitzel <djw8605@gmail.com>
+Standards-Version: 4.4.1
+Vcs-Browser: https://github.com/scitokens/scitokens-cpp
+Vcs-Git: https://github.com/scitokens/scitokens-cpp.git
+Homepage: https://github.com/scitokens/scitokens-cpp
+Build-Depends:
+ debhelper (>=9),
+ cmake (>=2.6),
+ libcurl4-openssl-dev | libcurl4-gnutls-dev,
+ libssl-dev,
+ libsqlite3-dev,
+ pkg-config,
+ uuid-dev,
+
+Package: libscitokens0
+Architecture: any
+Depends:
+ ${misc:Depends},
+ ${shlibs:Depends},
+Description: C++ Implementation of the SciTokens Library
+ This package provides the shared object libraries needed to run applications
+ that use the SciTokens C++ library.
+
+Package: libscitokens-dev
+Section: libdevel
+Architecture: any
+Depends:
+ ${misc:Depends},
+ ${shlibs:Depends},
+ libcurl4-openssl-dev | libcurl4-gnutls-dev,
+ libscitokens0 (= ${binary:Version}),
+ libssl-dev,
+ libsqlite3-dev,
+Description: Header files for the scitokens-cpp public interfaces
+ This package provides the files needed to build applications
+ that use the SciTokens C++ library.
diff --git a/debian/copyright b/debian/copyright
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e58cd10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/copyright
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+Format: https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/
+Upstream-Name: scitokens-cpp
+Upstream-Contact: Derek Weitzel <djw8605@gmail.com>
+Source: https://github.com/scitokens/scitokens-cpp
+
+Files: *
+Copyright: 2019-2020, HTCondor Team, Computer Sciences Department,
+                      University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI.
+License: Apache-2.0
+
+Files: debian/*
+Copyright: 2020, Cardiff University <macleoddm@cardiff.ac.uk>
+License: Apache-2.0
+
+License: Apache-2.0
+ This file is licensed under the terms of the Apache License Version 2.0
+ http://www.apache.org/licenses. This notice must appear in modified or not
+ redistributions of this file.
+ .
+ Redistributions of this Software, with or without modification, must
+ reproduce the Apache License in: (1) the Software, or (2) the Documentation
+ or some other similar material which is provided with the Software (if any).
+ .
+ On Debian systems, the full text of the Apache License version 2 can be found
+ in the file `/usr/share/common-licenses/Apache-2.0'.
diff --git a/debian/libscitokens-dev.install b/debian/libscitokens-dev.install
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4f9f064
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/libscitokens-dev.install
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+usr/lib/*/*.so
+usr/include/*
diff --git a/debian/libscitokens0.install b/debian/libscitokens0.install
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3de3b10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/libscitokens0.install
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+usr/lib/*/*.so.*
diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..1a507b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/usr/bin/make -f
+
+export DH_VERBOSE = 1
+
+%:
+	dh $@
diff --git a/debian/source/format b/debian/source/format
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..163aaf8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/source/format
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+3.0 (quilt)