diff --git a/distros/debian8/control b/distros/debian8/control
index cef6899c3..e2d898e0a 100644
--- a/distros/debian8/control
+++ b/distros/debian8/control
@@ -38,3 +38,12 @@ Description: Debugging symbols for zoneminder.
  video security system and for commercial or professional video security
  and surveillance. It can also be integrated into a home automation system
  via X.10 or other protocols.
+
+Package: zoneminder-dev
+Priority: optional
+Section: libdevel
+Architecture: any
+Depends: zoneminder (= ${binary:Version}), ${misc:Depends}
+Description: Development files for ZoneMinder plugins
+ This package add the necessary files to develop video analysis plugins for
+ the ZoneMinder camera security and surveillance solution.
diff --git a/distros/debian8/rules b/distros/debian8/rules
index 3bd92f795..090de70f2 100755
--- a/distros/debian8/rules
+++ b/distros/debian8/rules
@@ -53,7 +53,8 @@ override_dh_auto_configure:
 	  --with-mariadb=/usr --with-webdir=/usr/share/zoneminder \
 	  --with-ffmpeg=/usr --with-cgidir=/usr/lib/cgi-bin \
 	  --with-webuser=www-data --with-webgroup=www-data \
-	  --enable-crashtrace=no --enable-mmap=yes $(DEBOPT)
+	  --enable-crashtrace=no --enable-mmap=yes $(DEBOPT) \
+	  --enable-plugin-support --with-pluginsdir=/usr/lib/zoneminder/plugins
 
 override_dh_clean:
 	# Add here commands to clean up after the build process.
diff --git a/distros/debian8/zoneminder-dev.install b/distros/debian8/zoneminder-dev.install
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6327b3321
--- /dev/null
+++ b/distros/debian8/zoneminder-dev.install
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+usr/include/zoneminder
+usr/lib/*/libzmplugins.a
+usr/lib/*/pkgconfig/libzmplugins.pc
diff --git a/distros/debian8/zoneminder.dirs b/distros/debian8/zoneminder.dirs
index 4178482c1..78708e272 100644
--- a/distros/debian8/zoneminder.dirs
+++ b/distros/debian8/zoneminder.dirs
@@ -4,3 +4,5 @@ var/cache/zoneminder/events
 var/cache/zoneminder/images
 var/cache/zoneminder/temp
 usr/share/zoneminder/db
+etc/zm/plugins.d
+usr/share/zoneminder/plugins