diff --git a/Alien/Package/Deb.pm b/Alien/Package/Deb.pm
index 6a9679d..5d2c34d 100644
--- a/Alien/Package/Deb.pm
+++ b/Alien/Package/Deb.pm
@@ -491,9 +491,11 @@ sub build {
 	# Detect architecture mismatch and abort with a comprehensible
 	# error message.
 	my $arch=$this->arch;
-	my $ret=system("dpkg-architecture", "-i".$arch);
-	if ($ret != 0) {
-		die $this->filename." is for architecture ".$this->arch." ; the package cannot be built on this system"."\n";
+	if ($arch ne 'all') {
+		my $ret=system("dpkg-architecture", "-i".$arch);
+		if ($ret != 0) {
+			die $this->filename." is for architecture ".$this->arch." ; the package cannot be built on this system"."\n";
+		}
 	}
 
 	chdir $this->unpacked_tree;
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 0b5d1cf..28f05e4 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+alien (8.83) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
+
+  * Correct handling of arch all packages in deb arch check. Closes: #596209
+
+ -- Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>  Thu, 09 Sep 2010 08:24:27 -0400
+
 alien (8.82) unstable; urgency=low
 
   * Use debhelper compat level v7 when building packages. All changes