diff --git a/mapproxy/debian/fix-shlibs.sh b/mapproxy/debian/fix-shlibs.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..7df9e65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mapproxy/debian/fix-shlibs.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+function fix_focal() {
+    # change to base distro version
+    sed -i 's/4.2.0+melown/4.2.0+dfsg-5/g' $1
+}
+
+function fix() {
+    case ${DEB_RELEASE} in
+        focal) fix_focal $1;;
+    esac
+}
+
+for file in debian/*.substvars; do
+    fix ${file}
+done
diff --git a/mapproxy/debian/rules b/mapproxy/debian/rules
index cf7eb71..fab044e 100755
--- a/mapproxy/debian/rules
+++ b/mapproxy/debian/rules
@@ -50,3 +50,7 @@ override_dh_icons:
 override_dh_perl:
 override_dh_usrlocal:
 override_dh_installexamples:
+
+override_dh_shlibdeps:
+	dh_shlibdeps
+	debian/fix-shlibs.sh