diff --git a/CMakeModules/OsgCPack.cmake b/CMakeModules/OsgCPack.cmake
index 706487231..4bd2c2e76 100644
--- a/CMakeModules/OsgCPack.cmake
+++ b/CMakeModules/OsgCPack.cmake
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ ENDIF()
 SET(CPACK_SOURCE_GENERATOR "TGZ")
 
 
-# for ms visual studio we use it's internally defined variable to get the configuration (debug,release, ...) 
+# for ms visual studio we use it's internally defined variable to get the configuration (debug,release, ...)
 IF(MSVC_IDE)
     SET(OSG_CPACK_CONFIGURATION "$(OutDir)")
     SET(PACKAGE_TARGET_PREFIX "Package ")
@@ -84,9 +84,87 @@ ENDIF()
 SET(PACKAGE_ALL_TARGETNAME "${PACKAGE_TARGET_PREFIX}ALL")
 ADD_CUSTOM_TARGET(${PACKAGE_ALL_TARGETNAME})
 
+ # cpack configuration for debian packages
+IF(${CPACK_GENERATOR} STREQUAL "DEB")
+    SET(OPENSCENEGRAPH_PACKAGE_MAINTAINER
+        ""
+        CACHE STRING
+        "Name and email address of the package maintainer, e.g., 'Jon Doe <jon.doe@superawesomemail.com>'"
+    )
+    SET(CPACK_LIBOPENSCENEGRAPH_DEPENDENCIES
+        "libopenthreads"
+        CACHE STRING
+        "Dependend packages for the openscenegraph library package (uses deb dependecy format), e.g., 'libc6, libcurl3-gnutls, libgif4, libjpeg8, libpng12-0'"
+    )
+    SET(CPACK_LIBOPENSCENEGRAPH-DEV_DEPENDENCIES
+        "libopenscenegraph"
+        CACHE STRING
+        "Dependend packages for the openscenegraph development package (uses deb dependecy format), e.g., 'libc6, libcurl3-gnutls, libgif4, libjpeg8, libpng12-0'"
+    )
+    SET(CPACK_LIBOPENTHREADS_DEPENDENCIES
+        ""
+        CACHE STRING
+        "Dependend packages for the openthreads library package (uses deb dependecy format), e.g., 'libc6, libcurl3-gnutls, libgif4, libjpeg8, libpng12-0'"
+    )
+    SET(CPACK_LIBOPENTHREADS-DEV_DEPENDENCIES
+        "libopenthreads"
+        CACHE STRING
+        "Dependend packages for the openthreads development package (uses deb dependecy format), e.g., 'libc6, libcurl3-gnutls, libgif4, libjpeg8, libpng12-0'"
+    )
+    SET(CPACK_OPENSCENEGRAPH_DEPENDENCIES
+        "libopenscenegraph"
+        CACHE STRING
+        "Dependend packages for the openscenegraph main package (uses deb dependecy format), e.g., 'libc6, libcurl3-gnutls, libgif4, libjpeg8, libpng12-0'"
+    )
+    SET(CPACK_OPENSCENEGRAPH-ALL_DEPENDENCIES
+        ""
+        CACHE STRING
+        "Dependend packages for the openscenegraph package with all components (uses deb dependecy format), e.g., 'libc6, libcurl3-gnutls, libgif4, libjpeg8, libpng12-0'"
+    )
+
+    SET(CPACK_LIBOPENSCENEGRAPH_CONFLICTS
+        ""
+        CACHE STRING
+        "Conflicting packages for the openscenegraph library package (uses deb dependecy format), e.g., 'libc6, libcurl3-gnutls, libgif4, libjpeg8, libpng12-0'"
+    )
+    SET(CPACK_LIBOPENSCENEGRAPH-DEV_CONFLICTS
+        ""
+        CACHE STRING
+        "Conflicting packages for the openscenegraph development package (uses deb dependecy format), e.g., 'libc6, libcurl3-gnutls, libgif4, libjpeg8, libpng12-0'"
+    )
+    SET(CPACK_LIBOPENTHREADS_CONFLICTS
+        ""
+        CACHE STRING
+        "Conflicting packages for the openthreads library package (uses deb dependecy format), e.g., 'libc6, libcurl3-gnutls, libgif4, libjpeg8, libpng12-0'"
+    )
+    SET(CPACK_LIBOPENTHREADS-DEV_CONFLICTS
+        ""
+        CACHE STRING
+        "Conflicting packages for the openthreads development package (uses deb dependecy format), e.g., 'libc6, libcurl3-gnutls, libgif4, libjpeg8, libpng12-0'"
+    )
+    SET(CPACK_OPENSCENEGRAPH_CONFLICTS
+        ""
+        CACHE STRING
+        "Conflicting packages for the openscenegraph main package (uses deb dependecy format), e.g., 'libc6, libcurl3-gnutls, libgif4, libjpeg8, libpng12-0'"
+    )
+    SET(CPACK_OPENSCENEGRAPH-ALL_CONFLICTS
+        ""
+        CACHE STRING
+        "Conflicting packages for the openscenegraph package with all components (uses deb dependecy format), e.g., 'libc6, libcurl3-gnutls, libgif4, libjpeg8, libpng12-0'"
+    )
+ENDIF()
+
 MACRO(GENERATE_PACKAGING_TARGET package_name)
     SET(CPACK_PACKAGE_NAME ${package_name})
 
+    # set debian dependencies AND conflicts
+    IF(${CPACK_GENERATOR} STREQUAL "DEB")
+        STRING(TOUPPER CPACK_${package_name}_DEPENDENCIES DEPENDENCIES_VAR)
+        STRING(TOUPPER CPACK_${package_name}_CONFLICTS CONFLICTS_VAR)
+        SET(OSG_PACKAGE_DEPENDS "${${DEPENDENCIES_VAR}}")
+        SET(OSG_PACKAGE_CONFLICTS "${${CONFLICTS_VAR}}")
+    ENDIF()
+
     # the doc packages don't need a system-arch specification
     IF(${package} MATCHES -doc)
         SET(OSG_PACKAGE_FILE_NAME ${package_name}-${OPENSCENEGRAPH_VERSION})
@@ -114,7 +192,7 @@ MACRO(GENERATE_PACKAGING_TARGET package_name)
     ELSE()
         SET(ARCHIVE_EXT "tar.gz")
     ENDIF()
-    
+
     # Create a target that creates the current package
     # and rename the package to give it proper filename
     ADD_CUSTOM_TARGET(${PACKAGE_TARGETNAME})
@@ -124,7 +202,7 @@ MACRO(GENERATE_PACKAGING_TARGET package_name)
         COMMAND ${CMAKE_CPACK_COMMAND} -C ${OSG_CPACK_CONFIGURATION} --config ${OpenSceneGraph_BINARY_DIR}/CPackConfig-${package_name}.cmake
         COMMENT "Run CPack packaging for ${package_name}..."
     )
-    # Add the exact same custom command to the all package generating target. 
+    # Add the exact same custom command to the all package generating target.
     # I can't use add_dependencies to do this because it would allow parallell building of packages so am going brute here
     ADD_CUSTOM_COMMAND(TARGET ${PACKAGE_ALL_TARGETNAME}
         COMMAND ${CMAKE_CPACK_COMMAND} -C ${OSG_CPACK_CONFIGURATION} --config ${OpenSceneGraph_BINARY_DIR}/CPackConfig-${package_name}.cmake
diff --git a/CMakeModules/OsgCPackConfig.cmake.in b/CMakeModules/OsgCPackConfig.cmake.in
index 0ab151d09..376b4d6d9 100644
--- a/CMakeModules/OsgCPackConfig.cmake.in
+++ b/CMakeModules/OsgCPackConfig.cmake.in
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ SET(CPACK_NSIS_INSTALLER_ICON_CODE "")
 SET(CPACK_NSIS_INSTALLER_MUI_ICON_CODE "")
 SET(CPACK_OUTPUT_CONFIG_FILE "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/CPackConfig-${OSG_CPACK_COMPONENT}.cmake")
 SET(CPACK_PACKAGE_DEFAULT_LOCATION "/")
-SET(CPACK_PACKAGE_DESCRIPTION_FILE "${OpenSceneGraph_SOURCE_DIR}/README.txt")
+SET(CPACK_PACKAGE_DESCRIPTION_FILE "${OpenSceneGraph_SOURCE_DIR}/README.md")
 SET(CPACK_PACKAGE_DESCRIPTION_SUMMARY "The OpenSceneGraph is an open source high performance 3d graphics toolkit")
 SET(CPACK_PACKAGE_FILE_NAME "${OSG_PACKAGE_FILE_NAME}")
 SET(CPACK_PACKAGE_INSTALL_DIRECTORY "${CPACK_PACKAGE_INSTALL_DIRECTORY}")
@@ -66,6 +66,16 @@ SET(CPACK_PACKAGE_VERSION_MAJOR "${OPENSCENEGRAPH_MAJOR_VERSION}")
 SET(CPACK_PACKAGE_VERSION_MINOR "${OPENSCENEGRAPH_MINOR_VERSION}")
 SET(CPACK_PACKAGE_VERSION_PATCH "${OPENSCENEGRAPH_PATCH_VERSION}")
 SET(CPACK_RESOURCE_FILE_LICENSE "${OpenSceneGraph_SOURCE_DIR}/LICENSE.txt")
-SET(CPACK_RESOURCE_FILE_README "${OpenSceneGraph_SOURCE_DIR}/README.txt")
+SET(CPACK_RESOURCE_FILE_README "${OpenSceneGraph_SOURCE_DIR}/README.md")
 SET(CPACK_RESOURCE_FILE_WELCOME "${OpenSceneGraph_SOURCE_DIR}/NEWS.txt")
 SET(CPACK_STRIP_FILES "ON")
+
+# DEBIAN OPTIONS
+IF(${CPACK_GENERATOR} STREQUAL "DEB")
+    SET(CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_MAINTAINER "${OPENSCENEGRAPH_PACKAGE_MAINTAINER}")
+    SET(CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_HOMEPAGE    "http://www.openscenegraph.org")
+    SET(CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_SECTION     "Development")
+    SET(CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_DEPENDS     "${OSG_PACKAGE_DEPENDS}")
+    SET(CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_CONFLICTS   "${OSG_PACKAGE_CONFLICTS}")
+    SET(CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_CONTROL_EXTRA "${OpenSceneGraph_SOURCE_DIR}/debian_scripts/postinst;")
+ENDIF()
diff --git a/CMakeModules/OsgMacroUtils.cmake b/CMakeModules/OsgMacroUtils.cmake
index 21f7560f2..8c7967cb5 100644
--- a/CMakeModules/OsgMacroUtils.cmake
+++ b/CMakeModules/OsgMacroUtils.cmake
@@ -266,6 +266,23 @@ MACRO(SETUP_PLUGIN PLUGIN_NAME)
     ## plugins gets put in libopenscenegraph by default
     IF(${ARGC} GREATER 1)
       SET(PACKAGE_COMPONENT libopenscenegraph-${ARGV1})
+
+      # add cpack config variables for plugin with own package
+      IF(BUILD_OSG_PACKAGES)
+        IF(${CPACK_GENERATOR} STREQUAL "DEB")
+            STRING(TOUPPER ${PACKAGE_COMPONENT} UPPER_PACKAGE_COMPONENT)
+            SET(CPACK_${UPPER_PACKAGE_COMPONENT}_DEPENDENCIES
+                "libopenscenegraph"
+                CACHE STRING
+                "Dependend packages for the ${PACKAGE_COMPONENT} package with all components (uses deb dependecy format), e.g., 'libc6, libcurl3-gnutls, libgif4, libjpeg8, libpng12-0'"
+            )
+            SET(CPACK_${UPPER_PACKAGE_COMPONENT}_CONFLICTS
+                ""
+                CACHE STRING
+                "Conflicting packages for the ${PACKAGE_COMPONENT} package (uses deb dependecy format), e.g., 'libc6, libcurl3-gnutls, libgif4, libjpeg8, libpng12-0'"
+            )
+        ENDIF()
+      ENDIF()
     ELSE(${ARGC} GREATER 1)
       SET(PACKAGE_COMPONENT libopenscenegraph)
     ENDIF(${ARGC} GREATER 1)
diff --git a/debian_scripts/postinst b/debian_scripts/postinst
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..762f47445
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian_scripts/postinst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+ldconfig