diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index 387ad3d84..b56d7fd01 100755
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ abiname  := 1
 SHELL    := sh -e
 karch    := $(shell dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_ARCH)
 version  := $(shell dpkg-parsechangelog | sed -n 's/^Source: linux-kernel-\(.\+\)$$/\1/p')
-major_v  := $(wordlist 1,1,$(subst ., ,$(version)))
-minor_v  := $(wordlist 2,2,$(subst ., ,$(version)))
+major_v  := $(word 1,$(subst ., ,$(version)))
+minor_v  := $(word 2,$(subst ., ,$(version)))
 major    := $(major_v).$(minor_v)
 srcver   := $(shell dpkg-parsechangelog | awk '/^Version:/ {print $$2}')
 ltver    := $(word 2,$(subst -, ,$(srcver)))