diff --git a/debian/compat b/debian/compat
deleted file mode 100644
index b4de3947..00000000
--- a/debian/compat
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-11
diff --git a/debian/control b/debian/control
index 8aee5270..7528e338 100644
--- a/debian/control
+++ b/debian/control
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ Section: libs
 Priority: optional
 Maintainer: Debian GNOME Maintainers <pkg-gnome-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org>
 Uploaders: Emilio Pozuelo Monfort <pochu@debian.org>, Jeremy Bicha <jbicha@debian.org>, Michael Biebl <biebl@debian.org>
-Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 11),
+Build-Depends: debhelper-compat (= 12),
                gettext,
                pkg-config,
                libxau-dev,
diff --git a/debian/control.in b/debian/control.in
index 235aae14..86000040 100644
--- a/debian/control.in
+++ b/debian/control.in
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ Section: libs
 Priority: optional
 Maintainer: Debian GNOME Maintainers <pkg-gnome-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org>
 Uploaders: @GNOME_TEAM@
-Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 11),
+Build-Depends: debhelper-compat (= 12),
                gettext,
                pkg-config,
                libxau-dev,