Those files were removed on purpose in 2011-04-01 (here's the commit: http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=debhelper/debhelper.git;a=commitdiff;h=54fbbed4eb8bf4086e12f4c22204ab75729a4f65)
I think the reason is that the old, long-form way of writing rules files is deprecated, at least from the debhelper maintainer's POV. You are best to start with the tiny file and override what stages you need to for your particular package. Here's a short example of such a rules file, with two or three targets overidden: http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=pkg- games/freedoom.git;a=blob;f=debian/rules;h=78c4b4271775f6c59f232bc85670f1fb806ec498;hb=HEAD Check the dh(1) manpage, section "OVERRIDE TARGETS" to learn more about how it works. ** Changed in: debhelper (Ubuntu) Status: New => Invalid -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1077531 Title: debhelper lacks example rules files To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/debhelper/+bug/1077531/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs