diff --git a/icinga-build-deb-source b/icinga-build-deb-source
index 29239ed594f82807b7f643af84e8ec2e82c830fd..0703e3d65cd0f85bebdee66b303727ee7a2a8896 100755
--- a/icinga-build-deb-source
+++ b/icinga-build-deb-source
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ else
   exit 1
 fi
 
+# create build tree and copy debian scripts
 (
   set -ex
   mkdir "${BUILDDIR}" "${BUILDDIR}/${ICINGA_BUILD_PROJECT}"
@@ -97,8 +98,13 @@ else
   tarball="${BUILDDIR}/${tarball}"
 fi
 
-# extracting source into package source tree
-tar xf "${tarball}" --strip 1 -C "${BUILDDIR}/${ICINGA_BUILD_PROJECT}"/
+# extracting source into package source tree, exclude any existing debian scripts
+tar xvf "${tarball}" \
+  --exclude="debian" \
+  --exclude="debian/*" \
+  --strip 1 \
+  -C "${BUILDDIR}/${ICINGA_BUILD_PROJECT}"/
+exit 1
 
 # build source debian package
 cd "${BUILDDIR}/${ICINGA_BUILD_PROJECT}"