diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index a3dd9f3b..c6ec3f9f 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -15,3 +15,4 @@ npm-debug.log
 .ep_initialized
 *.crt
 *.key
+bin/etherpad-1.deb
diff --git a/bin/buildDebian.sh b/bin/buildDebian.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..cc3353c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/buildDebian.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# IMPORTANT 
+# Protect agaisnt mispelling a var and rm -rf /
+set -u
+set -e
+
+SRC=/tmp/etherpad-deb-src
+DIST=/tmp/etherpad-deb-dist
+SYSROOT=${SRC}/sysroot
+DEBIAN=${SRC}/DEBIAN
+
+rm -rf ${DIST}
+mkdir -p ${DIST}/
+
+rm -rf ${SRC}
+rsync -a bin/deb-src/ ${SRC}/
+mkdir -p ${SYSROOT}/opt/
+
+rsync --exclude '.git' -a . ${SYSROOT}/opt/etherpad/ --delete
+mkdir -p ${SYSROOT}/usr/share/doc
+cp README.md ${SYSROOT}/usr/share/doc/etherpad
+find ${SRC}/ -type d -exec chmod 0755 {} \;
+find ${SRC}/ -type f -exec chmod go-w {} \;
+chown -R root:root ${SRC}/
+
+let SIZE=`du -s ${SYSROOT} | sed s'/\s\+.*//'`+8
+pushd ${SYSROOT}/
+tar czf ${DIST}/data.tar.gz [a-z]*
+popd
+sed s"/SIZE/${SIZE}/" -i ${DEBIAN}/control
+pushd ${DEBIAN}
+tar czf ${DIST}/control.tar.gz *
+popd
+
+pushd ${DIST}/
+echo 2.0 > ./debian-binary
+
+find ${DIST}/ -type d -exec chmod 0755 {} \;
+find ${DIST}/ -type f -exec chmod go-w {} \;
+chown -R root:root ${DIST}/
+ar r ${DIST}/etherpad-1.deb debian-binary control.tar.gz data.tar.gz
+popd
+rsync -a ${DIST}/etherpad-1.deb ./
diff --git a/bin/deb-src/DEBIAN/control b/bin/deb-src/DEBIAN/control
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a516dc6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/deb-src/DEBIAN/control
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+Package: etherpad
+Version: 1.3
+Section: base
+Priority: optional
+Architecture: i386
+Installed-Size: SIZE
+Depends:
+Maintainer: John McLear <john@mclear.co.uk>
+Description: Etherpad is a collaborative editor.  
diff --git a/bin/deb-src/DEBIAN/postinst b/bin/deb-src/DEBIAN/postinst
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..2f483f7e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/deb-src/DEBIAN/postinst
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Start the services!
+
+service etherpad start
+echo "Give Etherpad about 3 minutes to install dependencies then visit http://localhost:9001 in your web browser"
+echo "To stop etherpad type 'service etherpad stop', To restart type 'service etherpad restart'".
+rm -f /tmp/etherpad.log /tmp/etherpad.err
diff --git a/bin/deb-src/DEBIAN/preinst b/bin/deb-src/DEBIAN/preinst
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..e5b5e0b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/deb-src/DEBIAN/preinst
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Installs node if it isn't already installed
+#
+# Don't steamroll over a previously installed node version
+# TODO provide a local version of node?
+
+VER="0.10.4"
+ARCH="x86"
+if [ `arch | grep 64` ]
+then
+  ARCH="x64"
+fi
+
+# TODO test version
+if [ ! -f /usr/local/bin/node ]
+then
+  pushd /tmp
+  wget -c "http://nodejs.org/dist/v${VER}/node-v${VER}-linux-${ARCH}.tar.gz"
+  rm -rf /tmp/node-v${VER}-linux-${ARCH}
+  tar xf node-v${VER}-linux-${ARCH}.tar.gz -C /tmp/
+  cp -a /tmp/node-v${VER}-linux-${ARCH}/* /usr/local/
+fi
+
+# Create Etherpad user
+adduser --system etherpad
diff --git a/bin/deb-src/DEBIAN/prerm b/bin/deb-src/DEBIAN/prerm
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..5e3d0f8a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/deb-src/DEBIAN/prerm
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Stop the appserver:
+service etherpad stop || true
diff --git a/bin/deb-src/sysroot/etc/init/etherpad.conf b/bin/deb-src/sysroot/etc/init/etherpad.conf
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cd6f4541
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/deb-src/sysroot/etc/init/etherpad.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+description "etherpad"
+
+start on started networking
+stop on runlevel [!2345]
+
+env EPHOME=/opt/etherpad
+env EPLOGS=/var/log/etherpad
+env EPUSER=etherpad
+
+respawn
+
+pre-start script
+    cd $EPHOME
+    mkdir $EPLOGS                        ||true
+    chown $EPUSER $EPLOGS                ||true
+    chmod 0755 $EPLOGS                   ||true
+    chown -R $EPUSER $EPHOME/var         ||true
+    $EPHOME/bin/installDeps.sh >> $EPLOGS/error.log || { stop; exit 1; }
+end script
+
+script
+  cd $EPHOME/
+  exec su -s /bin/sh -c 'exec "$0" "$@"' $EPUSER -- node node_modules/ep_etherpad-lite/node/server.js \
+                        >> $EPLOGS/access.log \
+                        2>> $EPLOGS/error.log
+  echo "Etherpad is running on http://localhost:9001 - To change settings edit /opt/etherpad/settings.json"
+
+end script