You mean building from the source package or how to create a debian package (debianize)?

I simply build the package with:

cd source_dir
dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot

To build the package you need:

apt-get build-dep dotlrn
apt-get install build-essential fakeroot

The hard part is debianize the package which is better covered  somewhere in the debian's developer corner:

http://www.debian.org/devel/

Hope that helps.