diff --git a/debian/bootstrap.sh b/debian/bootstrap.sh
index 66adadd025..c9b2d522f9 100755
--- a/debian/bootstrap.sh
+++ b/debian/bootstrap.sh
@@ -334,6 +334,8 @@ Build-Depends:
  libcurl4-openssl-dev | libcurl4-gnutls-dev | libcurl-dev,
  bison, zlib1g-dev, libsofia-sip-ua-dev (>= 1.12.12),
  libspandsp3-dev,
+# used to format the private freeswitch apt-repo key properly
+ gnupg,
 # module build-depends
  $(debian_wrap "${mod_build_depends}")
 Standards-Version: 3.9.3
diff --git a/debian/util.sh b/debian/util.sh
index ccf38cdc2a..88cee7949b 100755
--- a/debian/util.sh
+++ b/debian/util.sh
@@ -298,7 +298,9 @@ build_debs () {
         for X in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*; do cat $X >> /tmp/fs.sources.list; done
       fi
       custom_sources_file="/tmp/fs.sources.list"
-      apt-key exportall > "/tmp/fs.gpg"
+      apt-key exportall > "/tmp/fs.tmp.gpg"
+      gpg --no-default-keyring --keyring /tmp/fs.tmp.keyring.gpg  --import /tmp/fs.tmp.gpg
+      gpg --no-default-keyring --keyring /tmp/fs.tmp.keyring.gpg  --export > "/tmp/fs.gpg"
       custom_keyring="/tmp/fs.gpg"
     fi
     if [ "$custom_sources_file" == "" ]; then
@@ -309,7 +311,7 @@ build_debs () {
       echo "deb [trusted=yes] http://files.freeswitch.org/repo/deb/freeswitch-1.8/ stretch main" >> "/tmp/fs.sources.list"
     fi
     if [[ "$custom_keyring" == "/tmp/fs.gpg" && ! -r "/tmp/fs.gpg" ]]; then
-      cat << EOF > "/tmp/fs.gpg"
+      cat << EOF > "/tmp/fs.tmp.gpg"
 -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
 
 mQINBFlVeA4BEADg3MkzUvnbuqG7S6ppt0BJIYx2WIlDzsj2EBPBBo7VpppWPGa/
@@ -363,6 +365,8 @@ Y4o4oqgePeTYzkxVYj8=
 =XPvO
 -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
 EOF
+      gpg --no-default-keyring --keyring /tmp/fs.tmp.keyring.gpg  --import /tmp/fs.tmp.gpg
+      gpg --no-default-keyring --keyring /tmp/fs.tmp.keyring.gpg  --export > "/tmp/fs.gpg"
     fi
 
     local distro="$(find_distro $1)" dsc="$2" arch="$3"