diff --git a/debian/compat b/debian/compat
deleted file mode 100644
index 48082f72f..000000000
--- a/debian/compat
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-12
diff --git a/debian/control b/debian/control
index c539cebf3..edc212e6c 100644
--- a/debian/control
+++ b/debian/control
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ Uploaders:
  Federico Ceratto <federico@debian.org>,
  James Valleroy <jvalleroy@mailbox.org>,
 Build-Depends:
- debhelper (>= 12~),
+ debhelper-compat (= 12),
  dblatex,
  dh-python,
  docbook-utils,