diff --git a/usbboot/debian/.gitignore b/usbboot/debian/.gitignore
index 66a4544..5495e03 100644
--- a/usbboot/debian/.gitignore
+++ b/usbboot/debian/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+/xburst_stage1.bin
+/xburst_stage2.bin
+
 /files
 
 /*.debhelper.log
diff --git a/usbboot/debian/README.source b/usbboot/debian/README.source
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..26fb252
--- /dev/null
+++ b/usbboot/debian/README.source
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+This Debian package is developed in a Git repository (see the Vcs-Git field
+of debian/control).  To build from a git checkout:
+
+	debian/autogen.sh
+	debuild
+
+This requires a mipsel-openwrt-linux- cross-toolchain in your $PATH.  You
+can get one by building the development environment from Qi Hardware, for
+example.
+
+  git://projects.qi-hardware.com/openwrt-xburst.git xburst
+
+See the Qi Hardware wiki for details.
+
+  http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Building_Software_Image
+
+To build a released version of this package, no special instructions apply.
+“dpkg-buildpackage” or “apt-get -b source xburst-tools” should work as
+usual.
+
+ -- Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>  Sun, 04 Apr 2010 22:08:28 -0500
diff --git a/usbboot/debian/autogen.sh b/usbboot/debian/autogen.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..7a0016a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/usbboot/debian/autogen.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# Generate debian/xburst_stage1.bin and debian/xburst_stage2.bin
+#
+# Requires a mipsel-openwrt-linux- toolchain on the $PATH.
+
+set -e
+
+debian/rules firmware
+cp -f xburst_stage1/xburst_stage1.bin debian/
+cp -f xburst_stage2/xburst_stage2.bin debian/
diff --git a/usbboot/debian/changelog b/usbboot/debian/changelog
index 5761823..c8afe76 100644
--- a/usbboot/debian/changelog
+++ b/usbboot/debian/changelog
@@ -6,8 +6,12 @@ xburst-tools (0.0+201002-1.1) local; urgency=low
   * Build-Conflicts: automake1.4
   * add a Vcs-Git field to debian/control and remove the outdated watch
     file
+  * debian/README.source: add instructions for re-building the firmware
+  * debian/autogen.sh: new script
+  * debian/rules: install firmware built at packaging time, to avoid
+    requiring a mipsel cross-compiler on buildds
 
- -- Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>  Sun, 04 Apr 2010 21:45:57 -0500
+ -- Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>  Sun, 04 Apr 2010 22:08:47 -0500
 
 xburst-tools (0.0+201002-1) unstable; urgency=low
 
diff --git a/usbboot/debian/clean.sh b/usbboot/debian/clean.sh
index 8834847..1b17a8b 100644
--- a/usbboot/debian/clean.sh
+++ b/usbboot/debian/clean.sh
@@ -36,8 +36,7 @@ splitgitignore='#!/usr/bin/awk
 }
 '
 
-gitdir="-type d -name '.*' -prune"
-debiandir="-type d -name debian -prune"
+offlimits="-type d -name '.*' -prune -o -type d -name debian -prune"
 
 remove_file_globs() {
 	while read glob
@@ -56,7 +55,7 @@ remove_directory_globs() {
 remove_file_findpatterns() {
 	while read pat
 	do
-		find . $gitdir -o \
+		find . $offlimits -o \
 			'(' -name "$pat" -execdir rm -f '{}' + ')'
 	done
 }
@@ -64,12 +63,12 @@ remove_file_findpatterns() {
 remove_directory_findpatterns() {
 	while read pat
 	do
-		find . $gitdir -o \
+		find . $offlimits -o \
 			'(' -type d -name "$pat" -execdir rm -fr '{}' + ')'
 	done
 }
 
-find . $gitdir -o $debiandir -o '(' -name .gitignore -print ')' |
+find . $offlimits -o '(' -name .gitignore -print ')' |
 while read file
 do
 	(
diff --git a/usbboot/debian/rules b/usbboot/debian/rules
index ccaff2d..8190b0b 100755
--- a/usbboot/debian/rules
+++ b/usbboot/debian/rules
@@ -6,12 +6,22 @@ build clean install binary-arch binary-indep binary:
 	+dh --parallel $(opt_no_act) $@
 
 override_dh_auto_clean:
+	test -e debian/xburst_stage1.bin || { \
+		echo >&2 see debian/README.source; \
+		exit 1; \
+	}
 	dh_auto_clean
 	sh debian/clean.sh
 
-override_dh_auto_configure:
-	AUTOMAKE="automake --foreign" autoreconf -is
-	dh_auto_configure -- $(opt_optimize) $(opt_quiet) LDFLAGS=-Wl,-z,defs
+override_dh_auto_configure: configure
+	dh_auto_configure -- $(opt_optimize) $(opt_quiet) \
+		--disable-firmware  LDFLAGS=-Wl,-z,defs
+
+override_dh_auto_install:
+	dh_auto_install
+	: install firmware from source package
+	dh_install debian/xburst_stage1.bin usr/share/xburst-tools/
+	dh_install debian/xburst_stage2.bin usr/share/xburst-tools/
 
 opt_optimize = CFLAGS="-g -O2"
 opt_no_act =
@@ -29,3 +39,11 @@ ifneq (,$(filter quiet,$(DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS)))
     opt_quiet = --quiet
     MAKEFLAGS += --quiet
 endif
+
+configure: configure.ac
+	AUTOMAKE="automake --foreign" autoreconf -is
+
+firmware: configure
+	./configure --enable-firmware
+	$(MAKE) -C src ../xburst_stage1/xburst_stage1.bin \
+		../xburst_stage2/xburst_stage2.bin