diff --git a/scripts/ax_init_standard_project.m4 b/scripts/ax_init_standard_project.m4
index 939ccb1..f1d29a0 100644
--- a/scripts/ax_init_standard_project.m4
+++ b/scripts/ax_init_standard_project.m4
@@ -167,6 +167,12 @@ AC_DEFUN([AX_INIT_STANDARD_PROJECT], [
   AM_CPPFLAGS+=" '-DMAKE_STRING(X)=\#X' '-DNAMESPACE=${PACKAGE_TARNAME//[^a-zA-Z0-9]/_}'"
   AX_SUBST(NUMBERS)
   AX_SUBST(HOME)
+  DEB_DEPEND_IFEXISTS=
+  DEB_BUILD_DEPEND=
+  DEB_DEPEND=
+  AC_SUBST(DEB_DEPEND_IFEXISTS)
+  AC_SUBST(DEB_BUILD_DEPEND)
+  AC_SUBST(DEB_DEPEND)
   if test -f README.md; then
     README=$(tail -n +3 README.md)
     DESCRIPTION=$(head -1 README.md)