diff --git a/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/JDebPackaging.scala b/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/JDebPackaging.scala
index 7942a67f7..9608f2298 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/JDebPackaging.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/JDebPackaging.scala
@@ -88,6 +88,7 @@ object JDebPackaging extends AutoPlugin with DebianPluginLike {
         fileAndDirectoryProducers(mappings, targetDir) ++ linkProducers(symlinks),
         conffileProducers(mappings, targetDir)
       )
+      debMaker setDepends ""
       debMaker setDeb debianFile
       debMaker setControl (targetDir / Names.Debian)
 
diff --git a/src/sbt-test/debian/jdeb-dependencies/build.sbt b/src/sbt-test/debian/jdeb-dependencies/build.sbt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2f42e3b59
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/sbt-test/debian/jdeb-dependencies/build.sbt
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+enablePlugins(JavaServerAppPackaging, JDebPackaging)
+
+name := "debian-test"
+
+version := "0.1.0"
+
+maintainer := "Josh Suereth <joshua.suereth@typesafe.com>"
+
+packageSummary := "Test debian package"
+
+packageDescription := """A fun package description of our software,
+  with multiple lines."""
+
+debianPackageDependencies in Debian := Seq()
+
+TaskKey[Unit]("check-dependencies") <<= (target, streams) map { (target, out) =>
+  val extracted = target / "extracted"
+  Seq("dpkg-deb", "-R", (target / "debian-test_0.1.0_all.deb").absolutePath, extracted.absolutePath).!
+
+  val control = IO.read(extracted / "DEBIAN" / "control")
+  assert(!control.contains("Depends:"))
+
+  out.log.success("Successfully tested systemV control files")
+  ()
+}
diff --git a/src/sbt-test/debian/jdeb-dependencies/project/plugins.sbt b/src/sbt-test/debian/jdeb-dependencies/project/plugins.sbt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b53de154c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/sbt-test/debian/jdeb-dependencies/project/plugins.sbt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+addSbtPlugin("com.typesafe.sbt" % "sbt-native-packager" % sys.props("project.version"))
diff --git a/src/sbt-test/debian/jdeb-dependencies/test b/src/sbt-test/debian/jdeb-dependencies/test
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f3a2c1704
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/sbt-test/debian/jdeb-dependencies/test
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# Run the debian packaging.
+$ mkdir src/resources/empty
+> debian:package-bin
+$ exists target/debian-test_0.1.0_all.deb
+> check-dependencies
diff --git a/src/sphinx/formats/debian.rst b/src/sphinx/formats/debian.rst
index 07f54a262..2f3ab1146 100644
--- a/src/sphinx/formats/debian.rst
+++ b/src/sphinx/formats/debian.rst
@@ -72,10 +72,6 @@ If you want to use the java based implementation, enable the following plugin.
 
   enablePlugins(JDebPackaging)
 
-Note that JDeb will add `default-jre` and `java6-runtime` as dependencies if 
-they are not explicitly specified using ``debianPackageDependencies`` ( 
-`jdeb#208 <https://github.com/tcurdt/jdeb/issues/208>`_).
-
 0.8 or lower
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~