diff --git a/contrib/debian/rules b/contrib/debian/rules
index eaa72b592..16dc4f744 100755
--- a/contrib/debian/rules
+++ b/contrib/debian/rules
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@
 
 ifeq (,$(filter terse,$(DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS)))
   export DH_VERBOSE=1
-  export CARGO_TERM_VERBOSE=true # required by Debian policy 4.9, version 4.2.0
+  # VERBOSE to satisfy Debian policy 4.9, introduced in version 4.2.0
+  export CARGO_TERM_VERBOSE=true
 endif
 # The LTO profile sets CFLAGS/CXXFLAGS which confuse the compilation process; disable it
 # LTO is still performed by rustc based on Cargo.toml