diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 03a1937d..16c0b234 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ llvm-toolchain-snapshot (1:18~++20230921012857+4cf8da94198d-1~exp1) UNRELEASED;
   * Consolidate the build flags for the wasm builds.
   * Disable the clc and wasm builds when not building binary indep packages.
   * Limit the parallel links to 2 on riscv64.
+  * d/rules: Be less noisy when building without grpc.
 
  -- Matthias Klose <doko@debian.org>  Sun, 08 Oct 2023 08:10:51 +0200
 
diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index a5540cd9..b84cca5b 100755
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ STAGE_2_CMAKE_EXTRA += -DCLANG_SYSTEMZ_DEFAULT_ARCH=$(ZARCH)
 # clangd remote index support requires GRPC & protobuf.
 # Enable if minimum tested versions are available.
 CLANGD_GRPC_INSTALLED=no
-ifeq ($(shell dpkg --compare-versions $(shell dpkg-query -W -f '$${Version}' libgrpc++-dev) gt 1.30.0; echo $$?),0)
+ifeq ($(shell v=$$(dpkg-query -W -f '$${Version}' libgrpc++-dev 2>/dev/null); if [ -z "$$v" ]; then echo 1; else dpkg --compare-versions $$v gt 1.30.0; echo $$?; fi),0)
 ifeq ($(shell dpkg --compare-versions $(shell dpkg-query -W -f '$${Version}' protobuf-compiler-grpc) gt 1.30.0; echo $$?),0)
 ifeq ($(shell dpkg --compare-versions $(shell dpkg-query -W -f '$${Version}' libprotobuf-dev) gt 3.12.0; echo $$?),0)
 ifeq ($(shell dpkg --compare-versions $(shell dpkg-query -W -f '$${Version}' protobuf-compiler) gt 3.12.0; echo $$?),0)