diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 783dce9..5aa5173 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -22,6 +22,11 @@ xen-tools (4.5+dev-1) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
     "xen-hypervisor" which is a virtual package provided by at least all
     xen-hypervisor-* packages since Debian 6 Squeeze.
   * Support passing commandline options with --debootstrap-cmd.
+  * Use -o APT::Install-Recommends=false instead of
+    --no-install-recommends for backwards compatibility with older APT
+    versions which don't know either (but accept any Foo=Bar parameter to
+    "-o"). Allows to install earlier Debian releases (e.g. Etch) with the
+    default configuration again.
 
  -- Axel Beckert <abe@debian.org>  Fri, 09 Jan 2015 13:10:37 +0100
 
diff --git a/hooks/common.sh b/hooks/common.sh
index 506cee0..b83094e 100755
--- a/hooks/common.sh
+++ b/hooks/common.sh
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ installDebianPackage ()
     prefix=$1
     shift
 
-    installDebianPackageAndRecommends ${prefix} --no-install-recommends "$@"
+    installDebianPackageAndRecommends ${prefix} -o APT::Install-Recommends=false "$@"
 }
 
 #