diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 636986028e8628..e01e1a9713c6aa 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ DEBUILD_BIN ?= debuild
 DEBUILD_OPTS = --source-option="-I"
 DPUT_BIN ?= dput
 DPUT_OPTS ?=
+DEB_DATE := $(shell date +"%a, %d %b %Y %T %z")
 ifeq ($(OFFICIAL),yes)
     DEB_RELEASE = $(RELEASE)ppa
     # Sign OFFICIAL builds using 'DEBSIGN_KEYID'
@@ -217,7 +218,7 @@ debian: sdist
 	    mkdir -p deb-build/$${DIST} ; \
 	    tar -C deb-build/$${DIST} -xvf dist/$(NAME)-$(VERSION).tar.gz ; \
 	    cp -a packaging/debian deb-build/$${DIST}/$(NAME)-$(VERSION)/ ; \
-	    sed -ie "s#^$(NAME) (\([^)]*\)) \([^;]*\);#ansible (\1-$(DEB_RELEASE)~$${DIST}) $${DIST};#" deb-build/$${DIST}/$(NAME)-$(VERSION)/debian/changelog ; \
+        sed -ie "s|%VERSION%|$(VERSION)|g;s|%RELEASE%|$(DEB_RELEASE)|;s|%DIST%|$${DIST}|g;s|%DATE%|$(DEB_DATE)|g" deb-build/$${DIST}/$(NAME)-$(VERSION)/debian/changelog ; \
 	done
 
 deb: debian
diff --git a/packaging/debian/changelog b/packaging/debian/changelog
index aa03e724d07e3f..84bf7e770336c4 100644
--- a/packaging/debian/changelog
+++ b/packaging/debian/changelog
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
-ansible (2.0.0) unstable; urgency=low
+ansible (%VERSION%-%RELEASE%~%DIST%) %DIST%; urgency=low
 
-  * 2.0.0 (in progress)
+  * %VERSION% release
 
- -- Ansible, Inc. <support@ansible.com>  Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 -0500
+ -- Ansible, Inc. <support@ansible.com>  %DATE%
+>>>>>>> Stashed changes
 
 ansible (1.9.0.1) unstable; urgency=low