diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/publish-deb.yml b/.gitea/workflows/publish-deb.yml
index 92807cf..922e055 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/publish-deb.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/publish-deb.yml
@@ -49,10 +49,18 @@ jobs:
         run: cargo install cargo-deb
 
       - name: Build deb package
+        env:
+          CREATE_DEB_DEBUG: "1"
         run: |
-          ./create-deb.sh \
-            ${{ inputs.deb_version != "" && "--deb-version " + inputs.deb_version || "" }} \
-            ${{ inputs.deb_revision != "" && "--deb-revision " + inputs.deb_revision || "" }}
+          CREATE_DEB_ARGS=(
+            --deb-revision "${{ inputs.deb_revision }}"
+          )
+
+          if [ "${{ inputs.deb_version }}" != "" ]; then
+            CREATE_DEB_ARGS+=("--deb-version" "${{ inputs.deb_version }}")
+          fi
+
+          ./create-deb.sh "${CREATE_DEB_ARGS[@]}"
 
       - name: Upload deb package artifact
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
diff --git a/create-deb.sh b/create-deb.sh
index 310c5fd..9b5ca2f 100755
--- a/create-deb.sh
+++ b/create-deb.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,20 @@
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
+if [[ "${CREATE_DEB_DEBUG:-}" == "1" ]]; then
+  set -x
+fi
+
+if ! command -v cargo &> /dev/null; then
+  echo "cargo could not be found" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+if ! command -v cargo-deb &> /dev/null; then
+  echo "cargo-deb could not be found" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
 cargo build --release
 
 mkdir -p assets/completions