diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 2156f5c34e4a9241d217584932bd7c8640e0d0ab..7d9900407a875c8de3e67ecdbf255db3eb07265f 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ python-defaults (2.7.7-1) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   [ Scott Kitterman ]
   * Fix error in pydist package relationship regex (Closes: #735163)
     - Thanks to Rafael Laboissiere for the patch
+  * Switch from using lsb-release to dpkg-vendor to determine distro and drop
+    lsb-release from build-depends (Closes: #751706)
+    - Thanks to Peter Pentchev for the patch
 
  -- Matthias Klose <doko@debian.org>  Mon, 02 Jun 2014 19:54:25 +0200
 
diff --git a/debian/control b/debian/control
index a3efed593b707317c0abf7a57b6b09da83c08817..77a434224ab397d3e101f472a30d4194946d7066 100644
--- a/debian/control
+++ b/debian/control
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ Priority: optional
 Maintainer: Matthias Klose <doko@debian.org>
 Uploaders: Scott Kitterman <scott@kitterman.com>, Piotr Ożarowski <piotr@debian.org>, Barry Warsaw <barry@debian.org>
 Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 8~), python-docutils (>= 0.4-3),
-  libhtml-tree-perl, debiandoc-sgml, lsb-release
+  libhtml-tree-perl, debiandoc-sgml
 Standards-Version: 3.9.5
 Homepage: http://www.python.org/
 Vcs-Bzr: http://alioth.debian.org/anonscm/bzr/pkg-python/python-defaults-debian
diff --git a/debian/control.in b/debian/control.in
index 5ffad46675b4507dd7df5c81316cd065c721175f..4a231761f163260546e75056ab01c1c84285a641 100644
--- a/debian/control.in
+++ b/debian/control.in
@@ -2,9 +2,9 @@ Source: python-defaults
 Section: python
 Priority: optional
 Maintainer: Matthias Klose <doko@debian.org>
-Uploaders: Scott Kitterman <scott@kitterman.com>, Piotr Ożarowski <piotr@debian.org>
+Uploaders: Scott Kitterman <scott@kitterman.com>, Piotr Ożarowski <piotr@debian.org>, Barry Warsaw <barry@debian.org>
 Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 8~), python-docutils (>= 0.4-3),
-  libhtml-tree-perl, debiandoc-sgml, lsb-release
+  libhtml-tree-perl, debiandoc-sgml
 Standards-Version: 3.9.5
 Homepage: http://www.python.org/
 Vcs-Bzr: http://alioth.debian.org/anonscm/bzr/pkg-python/python-defaults-debian
diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index e131a808ebcc64aad58e8a37c16a7aedb7626a5a..7fca98ef70d2ff1fc9bc3a8632b9f7357e4603ed 100755
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ changelog_values := $(shell dpkg-parsechangelog \
 PKGSOURCE  := $(word 1, $(changelog_values))
 PKGVERSION := $(word 2, $(changelog_values))
 
-distribution := $(shell lsb_release -is)
+distribution := $(shell dpkg-vendor --query Vendor)
 
 export VER=2.7
 export NVER=2.8