diff --git a/tools/build/onos-package b/tools/build/onos-package
index a1264c6..f47f5b6 100755
--- a/tools/build/onos-package
+++ b/tools/build/onos-package
@@ -93,22 +93,16 @@
 
 # Build a DEB package
 function build_deb() {
-    echo "You need to be root in order to generate a proper DEB package."
+    echo "This command may ask for your password to run commands as sudo,"
+    echo "  because you need to be root in order to generate a proper DEB package."
 
     sudo rm -fr $ONOS_DEB_ROOT
 
     mkdir -p $ONOS_DEB_ROOT/{DEBIAN,opt,etc/init}
 
-    {
-        echo "Package: ONOS"
-        echo "Architecture: all"
-        echo "Maintainer: ONOS Project"
-        echo "Depends: debconf (>= 0.5.00), default-jre-headless (>= 1.8) | openjdk-8-jre | oracle-java8-installer"
-        echo "Priority: optional"
-        echo "Version: $ONOS_POM_VERSION"
-        echo "Description: Open Network Operating System (ONOS) is an"
-        echo "  opensource SDN controller."
-    } > $ONOS_DEB_ROOT/DEBIAN/control
+    # Copy the debian directory and fill in version
+    cp -r $ONOS_ROOT/tools/package/deb/* $ONOS_DEB_ROOT/DEBIAN/
+    sed -i'' -E "s/@ONOS_POM_VERSION/$ONOS_POM_VERSION/" $ONOS_DEB_ROOT/DEBIAN/control
 
     cp -r $ONOS_STAGE $ONOS_DEB_ROOT/opt/onos
     cp $ONOS_ROOT/tools/package/init/onos.conf $ONOS_DEB_ROOT/etc/init/
@@ -119,6 +113,8 @@
 
     sudo dpkg-deb --build $ONOS_DEB_ROOT > /dev/null &&
     sudo mv $ONOS_STAGE_ROOT/deb.deb $ONOS_DEB && ls -l $ONOS_DEB
+
+    #TODO run lintian on .deb
 }
 
 # Build an RPM package
diff --git a/tools/package/deb/control b/tools/package/deb/control
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c581ac2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/package/deb/control
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+Package: onos
+Architecture: all
+Maintainer: ONOS Project
+Depends: debconf (>= 0.5.00), default-jre-headless (>= 1.8) | openjdk-8-jre | oracle-java8-installer
+Priority: optional
+Version: @ONOS_POM_VERSION
+Description: Open Network Operating System (ONOS)
+  Open Network Operating System (ONOS) is an opensource SDN controller.
diff --git a/tools/package/deb/copyright b/tools/package/deb/copyright
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..09ec05e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/package/deb/copyright
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+Upstream-Name: onos
+Source: http://github.com/opennetworkinglab/onos
+
+Files: *
+Copyright: 2014-2015 Open Networking Laboratory
+License: Apache 2.0
+ Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ .
+     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ .
+ Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ limitations under the License.
+ .
+ On Debian systems, the complete text of the Apache License 2.0 can
+ be found in "/usr/share/common-licenses/Apache-2.0"
diff --git a/tools/package/deb/postinst b/tools/package/deb/postinst
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..60de14a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/package/deb/postinst
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+ONOS_USER=sdn
+
+# Check to see if user exists, and if not, create a service account
+getent passwd $ONOS_USER >/dev/null 2&>1 || ( useradd -M $ONOS_USER && usermod -L $ONOS_USER )
+
+# Create ONOS options file
+[ ! -f /opt/onos/options ] && cat << EOF > /opt/onos/options
+export ONOS_OPTS=server
+export ONOS_USER="$ONOS_USER"
+EOF
+
+# Change permissions for onos directory
+[ -d /opt/onos ] && chown -R $ONOS_USER.$ONOS_USER /opt/onos
+
diff --git a/tools/package/deb/prerm b/tools/package/deb/prerm
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..5e8ace3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/package/deb/prerm
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Check if onos is running; if it is, stop onos
+[ -z "$(status onos 2>/dev/null | grep start)" ] && echo "onos is not running." || (
+    stop onos
+
+    # Wait for onos to stop up to 5 seconds
+    for i in $(seq 1 5); do
+      [ -z "$(ps -ef | grep karaf.jar | grep -v grep)" ] && break
+      sleep 1
+    done
+    [ -z "$(ps -ef | grep karaf.jar | grep -v grep)" ] && echo 'Stopped onos service' || echo 'Failed to stop onos'
+    ps -ef | grep karaf.jar | grep -v grep
+)
+
+# Clean up onos runtime directories
+#      TODO don't hardcode karaf version
+rm -rf /opt/onos/apache-karaf-3.0.3/
+rm -rf /opt/onos/var/*
+rm -rf /opt/onos/config
+rm -rf /opt/onos/options
+rm -rf /opt/onos/log
+
+#TODO consider removing the sdn user if we created it
diff --git a/tools/package/init/onos.conf b/tools/package/init/onos.conf
index f415f8e..779df90 100644
--- a/tools/package/init/onos.conf
+++ b/tools/package/init/onos.conf
@@ -13,9 +13,12 @@
 env LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 
 pre-start script
+    [ -f /opt/onos/options ] && . /opt/onos/options
+    ONOS_USER=${ONOS_USER:-root}
+
     # Ensure that the environment is initialized
-    [ -d /opt/onos ] && mkdir -p /opt/onos/var
-    [ -d /opt/onos ] && mkdir -p /opt/onos/config
+    [ -d /opt/onos ] && mkdir /opt/onos/var 2>/dev/null && chown $ONOS_USER.$ONOS_USER /opt/onos/var
+    [ -d /opt/onos ] && mkdir /opt/onos/config 2>/dev/null && chown $ONOS_USER.$ONOS_USER /opt/onos/config
     # TODO make karaf version configurable
     [ -d /opt/onos ] && [ ! -h /opt/onos/log ] \
          && ln -s /opt/onos/apache-karaf-3.0.3/data/log /opt/onos/log || :