diff --git a/debian/patches/debian-changes b/debian/patches/debian-changes
deleted file mode 100644
index de0f871b..00000000
--- a/debian/patches/debian-changes
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,34 +0,0 @@
-This is an autogenerated patch header for a single-debian-patch file. The
-delta against upstream is either kept as a single patch, or maintained
-in some VCS, and exported as a single patch instead of more manageable
-atomic patches.
-
---- notmuch-0.31.1.orig/devel/release-checks.sh
-+++ notmuch-0.31.1/devel/release-checks.sh
-@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ append_emsg ()
- 	emsgs="${emsgs:+$emsgs\n}  $1"
- }
- 
--for f in ./version debian/changelog NEWS "$PV_FILE"
-+for f in ./version.txt debian/changelog NEWS "$PV_FILE"
- do
- 	if   [ ! -f "$f" ]; then append_emsg "File '$f' is missing"
- 	elif [ ! -r "$f" ]; then append_emsg "File '$f' is unreadable"
-@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ then
- else
- 	echo "Reading './version' file failed (surprisingly!)"
- 	exit 1
--fi < ./version
-+fi < ./version.txt
- 
- readonly VERSION
- 
-@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ else
- fi
- 
- echo -n "Checking that python bindings version is $VERSION... "
--py_version=`python -c "with open('$PV_FILE') as vf: exec(vf.read()); print(__VERSION__)"`
-+py_version=`python3 -c "with open('$PV_FILE') as vf: exec(vf.read()); print(__VERSION__)"`
- if [ "$py_version" = "$VERSION" ]
- then
- 	echo Yes.
diff --git a/debian/patches/series b/debian/patches/series
deleted file mode 100644
index 7bb82529..00000000
--- a/debian/patches/series
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-debian-changes