diff --git a/build_scripts/assets/deb/control.j2 b/build_scripts/assets/deb/control.j2
index 29e9d26780..27a0ca3e76 100644
--- a/build_scripts/assets/deb/control.j2
+++ b/build_scripts/assets/deb/control.j2
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Package: chia-blockchain-cli
-Version: {{ CHIA_INSTALLER_VERSION }}
+Version: {{ CHIA_DEB_CONTROL_VERSION }}
 Architecture: {{ PLATFORM }}
 Maintainer: Chia Network Inc <hello@chia.net>
 Description: Chia Blockchain
diff --git a/build_scripts/build_linux_deb-2-installer.sh b/build_scripts/build_linux_deb-2-installer.sh
index e4d85cc25d..b2e1b86259 100644
--- a/build_scripts/build_linux_deb-2-installer.sh
+++ b/build_scripts/build_linux_deb-2-installer.sh
@@ -51,12 +51,20 @@ bash ./build_license_directory.sh
 
 # Builds CLI only .deb
 # need j2 for templating the control file
+format_deb_version_string() {
+  version_str=$1
+  # Use sed to conform to expected apt versioning conventions:
+  # - conditionally insert a hyphen before 'rc' or 'beta' if not already present
+  # - replace '.dev' with '-dev'
+  echo "$version_str" | sed -E 's/([0-9])(rc|beta)/\1-\2/g; s/\.dev/-dev/g'
+}
 pip install j2cli
 CLI_DEB_BASE="chia-blockchain-cli_$CHIA_INSTALLER_VERSION-1_$PLATFORM"
 mkdir -p "dist/$CLI_DEB_BASE/opt/chia"
 mkdir -p "dist/$CLI_DEB_BASE/usr/bin"
 mkdir -p "dist/$CLI_DEB_BASE/DEBIAN"
 mkdir -p "dist/$CLI_DEB_BASE/etc/systemd/system"
+CHIA_DEB_CONTROL_VERSION=$(format_deb_version_string "$CHIA_INSTALLER_VERSION"); export CHIA_DEB_CONTROL_VERSION
 j2 -o "dist/$CLI_DEB_BASE/DEBIAN/control" assets/deb/control.j2
 cp assets/systemd/*.service "dist/$CLI_DEB_BASE/etc/systemd/system/"
 cp -r dist/daemon/* "dist/$CLI_DEB_BASE/opt/chia/"