diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index 5450bf3bf..48e7621f0 100755
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -97,8 +97,10 @@ endif
 	find debian/tmp ! -name '*.pyc' -a ! -name '*.pyo' -a \
 	    -type f -exec grep -qsm1 '^#!.*\bpython' {} \; \
 	    -exec sed -i -e '1 s|^#!.*\bpython[^ ]*|#!/usr/bin/python3|' {} \;
+ifeq ($(ONLY_CLIENT), 0)
 	# remove ipasphinx for now
 	rm -r $(CURDIR)/debian/tmp/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/ipasphinx*
+endif
 
 override_dh_missing:
 	dh_missing --fail-missing