diff --git a/debian/.gitignore b/debian/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d20c92f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+debian/files
+debian/.debhelper/
+debian/*.log
+debian/lite-xl/
+debian/debhelper-build-stamp
+debian/*.substvars
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff35d76
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+lite-xl (2.1.8-2) stonking; urgency=medium
+
+  * Drop the ":native" qualifiers on the meson/ninja-build Build-Depends.
+
+ -- Valentin Haudiquet <valentin.haudiquet@canonical.com>  Wed, 16 Sep 2026 16:40:00 +0200
+
+lite-xl (2.1.8-1) stonking; urgency=medium
+
+  * Initial release.
+
+ -- Valentin Haudiquet <valentin.haudiquet@canonical.com>  Wed, 16 Sep 2026 13:56:53 +0200
diff --git a/debian/control b/debian/control
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dcb4b33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/control
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+Source: lite-xl
+Section: utils
+Priority: optional
+Maintainer: Valentin Haudiquet <valentin.haudiquet@canonical.com>
+Rules-Requires-Root: no
+Standards-Version: 4.7.2
+Build-Depends: debhelper-compat (= 13),
+ meson,
+ ninja-build,
+ libsdl3-dev,
+ libfreetype-dev,
+ libpcre2-dev,
+ liblua5.4-dev
+Homepage: https://lite-xl.com/
+
+Package: lite-xl
+Architecture: any
+Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}
+Description: A lightweight text editor written in Lua
+ A lightweight, fast and extensible text editor written in Lua, designed to be
+ highly customizable and to have a small footprint. It is written in C and Lua
+ and uses the SDL library for cross-platform rendering.
diff --git a/debian/copyright b/debian/copyright
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e5501a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/copyright
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+Format: https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/
+Upstream-Name: lite-xl
+Source: https://lite-xl.com/
+
+Files: *
+Copyright: 2026 Valentin Haudiquet <valentin.haudiquet@canonical.com>
+License: MIT
+ The package is distributed under the terms of the MIT license. The full license text is available at <https://spdx.org/licenses/MIT.html>.
+
+License: MIT
+ The package is distributed under the terms of the MIT license. The full license text is available at <https://spdx.org/licenses/MIT.html>.
diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..f3c9295
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+#!/usr/bin/make -f
+%:
+	dh $@ --buildsystem=meson
+
+# Use the system Lua from the declared Build-Depends (liblua5.4-dev) instead of
+# the bundled lua subproject wrap, so the build works offline and exercises the
+# declared dependency (including for cross-builds). freetype2 and pcre2 are also
+# resolved from their -dev packages via pkg-config, so no wraps are fetched.
+# Note: do NOT pass -Dwrap_mode here; some build drivers (e.g. pkh) already pass
+# --wrap-mode on the meson command line, and Meson errors out if the same option
+# is given in both forms.
+override_dh_auto_configure:
+	dh_auto_configure -- -Duse_system_lua=true
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)
diff --git a/debian/source/local-options b/debian/source/local-options
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7423a2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/source/local-options
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+single-debian-patch