diff --git a/scripts/package/builddeb b/scripts/package/builddeb
index 2fe51e6919da3..2eb4910f0ef34 100755
--- a/scripts/package/builddeb
+++ b/scripts/package/builddeb
@@ -171,9 +171,8 @@ install_libc_headers () {
 
 	# move asm headers to /usr/include/<libc-machine>/asm to match the structure
 	# used by Debian-based distros (to support multi-arch)
-	host_arch=$(dpkg-architecture -a$DEB_HOST_ARCH -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH)
-	mkdir $pdir/usr/include/$host_arch
-	mv $pdir/usr/include/asm $pdir/usr/include/$host_arch/
+	mkdir "$pdir/usr/include/${DEB_HOST_MULTIARCH}"
+	mv "$pdir/usr/include/asm" "$pdir/usr/include/${DEB_HOST_MULTIARCH}"
 }
 
 rm -f debian/files
diff --git a/scripts/package/debian/rules b/scripts/package/debian/rules
index 529b71b55efa5..3268340386dec 100755
--- a/scripts/package/debian/rules
+++ b/scripts/package/debian/rules
@@ -30,5 +30,16 @@ build-arch:
 
 .PHONY: clean
 clean:
-	rm -rf debian/files debian/linux-*
+	rm -rf debian/files debian/linux-* debian/deb-env.vars*
 	$(MAKE) -f $(srctree)/Makefile ARCH=$(ARCH) clean
+
+# If DEB_HOST_ARCH is empty, it is likely that debian/rules was executed
+# directly. Run 'dpkg-architecture --print-set --print-format=make' to
+# generate a makefile construct that exports all DEB_* variables.
+ifndef DEB_HOST_ARCH
+include debian/deb-env.vars
+
+debian/deb-env.vars:
+	dpkg-architecture -a$$(cat debian/arch) --print-set --print-format=make > $@.tmp
+	mv $@.tmp $@
+endif