--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ SET(FTGL_FONT_MODULE_FOR_LINKING "")
 
 FIND_PACKAGE(Freetype)
 IF (FREETYPE_FOUND)
-    SET (FTGL_FONT_MODULE_FOR_LINKING FtglFont)
+    SET (FTGL_FONT_MODULE_FOR_LINKING ftgl)
     MESSAGE("FreeType library found")
     MESSAGE("   INCLUDES ${FREETYPE_INCLUDE_DIRS}")
     MESSAGE("   INCLUDES_FT2_BUILD ${FREETYPE_INCLUDE_DIR_ft2build}")
@@ -396,7 +396,8 @@ ADD_SUBDIRECTORY ( Xml )
 ADD_SUBDIRECTORY ( Scenes )
 ADD_SUBDIRECTORY ( OSMesaDummy )
 IF (FREETYPE_FOUND)
-    ADD_SUBDIRECTORY ( FtglFont )
+    # yoh: Use system-installed libftgl
+    #ADD_SUBDIRECTORY ( FtglFont )
 ENDIF (FREETYPE_FOUND)
 ADD_SUBDIRECTORY ( Charting )
 ADD_SUBDIRECTORY ( Palette )
--- a/src/Brain/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/Brain/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -307,8 +307,10 @@ ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/Common
 
 IF (FREETYPE_FOUND)
 INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(
-   ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/FtglFont
-   ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/FtglFont/FTGL
+   # yoh: use system-installed version of the library on Debian builds
+   /usr/include/FTGL
+   #${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/FtglFont
+   #${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/FtglFont/FTGL
    ${FREETYPE_INCLUDE_DIR_ft2build}
    ${FREETYPE_INCLUDE_DIR_freetype2}
 )
--- a/src/Brain/FtglFontTextRenderer.cxx
+++ b/src/Brain/FtglFontTextRenderer.cxx
@@ -70,7 +70,8 @@
 #include "CaretOpenGLInclude.h"
 
 #ifdef HAVE_FREETYPE
-#include <FtglConfig.h>
+/* yoh: disabling use of the original FTGL configuration file
+ #include <FtglConfig.h> */
 #include <FTGL/ftgl.h>
 using namespace FTGL;
 #endif // HAVE_FREETYPE
