diff --git a/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/JDebPackaging.scala b/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/JDebPackaging.scala
index c037fde3b..b5a109150 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/JDebPackaging.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/JDebPackaging.scala
@@ -4,9 +4,8 @@ package debian
 
 import Keys._
 import sbt._
-import sbt.Keys.{ target, name, normalizedName, TaskStreams }
-import linux.{ LinuxFileMetaData, LinuxPackageMapping, LinuxSymlink }
-import linux.Keys.{ linuxScriptReplacements, daemonShell }
+import sbt.Keys.{ target, normalizedName }
+import linux.{ LinuxSymlink }
 import com.typesafe.sbt.packager.linux.LinuxPackageMapping
 import scala.collection.JavaConversions._
 
@@ -63,12 +62,11 @@ trait JDebPackaging { this: DebianPlugin with linux.LinuxPlugin =>
    */
   private[debian] def fileAndDirectoryProducers(mappings: Seq[LinuxPackageMapping], target: File): Seq[DataProducer] = mappings.map {
     case LinuxPackageMapping(paths, perms, zipped) =>
-      // TODO implement mappers here or use the maintainerscripts logic?
-      val (dirs, files) = paths.partition(_._1.isDirectory)
       paths map {
         case (path, name) if path.isDirectory =>
           val permMapper = new PermMapper(-1, -1, perms.user, perms.group, null, perms.permissions, -1, null)
-          new DataProducerDirectory(target / name, null, Array("**"), Array(permMapper))
+          val dirName = if (name.startsWith("/")) name.drop(1) else name
+          new DataProducerDirectory(target, Array(dirName), null, Array(permMapper))
         case (path, name) =>
           val permMapper = new PermMapper(-1, -1, perms.user, perms.group, perms.permissions, null, -1, null)
           new DataProducerFile(target / name, name, null, null, Array(permMapper))
diff --git a/src/sbt-test/debian/jdeb-dir-mappings/build.sbt b/src/sbt-test/debian/jdeb-dir-mappings/build.sbt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a59e4f1d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/sbt-test/debian/jdeb-dir-mappings/build.sbt
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+import NativePackagerKeys._
+
+packagerSettings
+
+mapGenericFilesToLinux
+
+name := "debian-test"
+
+version := "0.1.0"
+
+maintainer := "Josh Suereth <joshua.suereth@typesafe.com>"
+
+packageSummary := "Test debian package"
+
+packageDescription := """A fun package description of our software,
+  with multiple lines."""
+
+debianPackageDependencies in Debian ++= Seq("java2-runtime", "bash (>= 2.05a-11)")
+
+debianPackageRecommends in Debian += "git"
+
+linuxPackageMappings in Debian += packageDirectoryAndContentsMapping(
+    (baseDirectory.value / "src" / "resources" / "conf") -> "/usr/share/conf")
+
+linuxPackageMappings in Debian += packageDirectoryAndContentsMapping(
+    (baseDirectory.value / "src" / "resources" / "empty") -> "/var/empty")
+
+packageBin in Debian <<= debianJDebPackaging in Debian
+
+TaskKey[Unit]("check-dir-mappings") <<= (target, streams) map { (target, out) =>
+//  val tmpDir = java.nio.file.Files.createTempDirectory("jdeb")
+  val extracted = file("/tmp/jdeb" + System.currentTimeMillis().toString)
+  Seq("dpkg-deb", "-R", (target / "debian-test_0.1.0_all.deb").absolutePath, extracted.absolutePath).!
+  assert((extracted / "usr/share/conf/application.conf").exists(), "File application.conf not exists")
+  assert((extracted / "usr/share/conf/log4j.properties").exists(), "File log4j.properties not exists")
+  assert((extracted / "var/empty").exists(), "Empty dir not exists")
+  extracted.delete()
+  out.log.success("Successfully tested control script")
+  ()
+}
diff --git a/src/sbt-test/debian/jdeb-dir-mappings/project/plugins.sbt b/src/sbt-test/debian/jdeb-dir-mappings/project/plugins.sbt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b53de154c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/sbt-test/debian/jdeb-dir-mappings/project/plugins.sbt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+addSbtPlugin("com.typesafe.sbt" % "sbt-native-packager" % sys.props("project.version"))
diff --git a/src/sbt-test/debian/jdeb-dir-mappings/src/resources/conf/application.conf b/src/sbt-test/debian/jdeb-dir-mappings/src/resources/conf/application.conf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/src/sbt-test/debian/jdeb-dir-mappings/src/resources/conf/log4j.properties b/src/sbt-test/debian/jdeb-dir-mappings/src/resources/conf/log4j.properties
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/src/sbt-test/debian/jdeb-dir-mappings/test b/src/sbt-test/debian/jdeb-dir-mappings/test
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..eaac4b35b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/sbt-test/debian/jdeb-dir-mappings/test
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# Run the debian packaging.
+$ mkdir src/resources/empty
+> debian:package-bin
+$ exists target/debian-test_0.1.0_all.deb
+> check-dir-mappings