diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index fa7724d8116..d2588334197 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 var platforms = require( './lib/platforms' );
 var path      = require( 'path' );
 var fs        = require( 'fs' );
-var mkdirp    = require( 'mkdirp' );
+var fse    = require( 'fs-extra' );
 
 
 /**
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ var Builder = {
     // directory exists
     if ( !fs.existsSync( options.out ) ) {
       options.log( '- Ouput directory ´' + options.out + '´ does not exist ' );
-      mkdirp.sync( options.out );
+      fse.mkdirsSync( options.out );
       options.log( '- Created ´' + options.out + '´ ' );
     }
 
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index bf5c1bf98dc..a3ec5e54c41 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -57,12 +57,10 @@
     "fs-extra": "^0.26.5",
     "gm": "^1.21.1",
     "hosted-git-info": "^2.1.4",
-    "json-parse-helpfulerror": "^1.0.3",
     "lodash.camelcase": "^4.1.0",
     "lodash.template": "^4.2.0",
     "meow": "^3.7.0",
     "mime": "^1.3.4",
-    "mkdirp": "^0.5.1",
     "progress": "^1.1.8",
     "progress-stream": "^1.2.0",
     "rimraf": "^2.5.1",
@@ -77,11 +75,12 @@
     "babel-plugin-array-includes": "^2.0.3",
     "babel-plugin-transform-es2015-parameters": "^6.5.0",
     "dts-generator-tf": "^1.7.0-beta.0",
-    "eslint": "^2.1.0",
+    "eslint": "^2.2.0",
     "path-sort": "^0.1.0",
     "plist": "^1.2.0",
     "proxyquire": "^1.7.4",
     "publish-please": "^1.1.0",
+    "read-package-json": "^2.0.3",
     "rimraf": "^2.5.2",
     "should": "^8.2.2",
     "tap-nyan": "0.0.2",
@@ -89,8 +88,8 @@
     "tape": "^4.4.0",
     "ts-babel": "^0.3.0",
     "tsconfig-glob": "^0.4.1",
-    "tslint": "^3.3.0",
-    "typescript": "^1.8.0-beta"
+    "tslint": "^3.4.0",
+    "typescript": "^1.8.2"
   },
   "babel": {
     "plugins": [
diff --git a/src/errorMessages.ts b/src/errorMessages.ts
index dc2f2145d5d..cdb265edbd6 100644
--- a/src/errorMessages.ts
+++ b/src/errorMessages.ts
@@ -8,4 +8,12 @@ export const buildIsMissed = `Please specify 'build' configuration in the applic
 }
 
 is required.
+`
+
+export const authorEmailIsMissed = `Please specify author 'email' in the application package.json ('%s')
+
+See https://docs.npmjs.com/files/package.json#people-fields-author-contributors
+
+It is required to set Linux .deb package maintainer. Or you can set maintainer in the custom linux options. 
+(see https://github.com/loopline-systems/electron-builder#distributable-format-configuration).
 `
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/install-app-deps.ts b/src/install-app-deps.ts
index 46f527ef108..05363947799 100644
--- a/src/install-app-deps.ts
+++ b/src/install-app-deps.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 #! /usr/bin/env node
 
-import { DEFAULT_APP_DIR_NAME, installDependencies, commonArgs, getElectronVersion } from "./util"
-import { parseJson } from "./promisifed-fs"
+import { DEFAULT_APP_DIR_NAME, installDependencies, commonArgs, getElectronVersion, readPackageJson } from "./util"
 import { printErrorAndExit } from "./promise"
-import { readFileSync } from "fs"
 import * as path from "path"
 import cla = require("command-line-args")
 
@@ -13,7 +11,8 @@ const args = cla(commonArgs.concat({
 })).parse()
 
 const devPackageFile = path.join(process.cwd(), "package.json")
-
 const appDir = args.appDir || DEFAULT_APP_DIR_NAME
-installDependencies(path.join(process.cwd(), appDir), args.arch, getElectronVersion(parseJson(readFileSync(devPackageFile, "utf8"), devPackageFile), devPackageFile))
+
+readPackageJson(devPackageFile)
+  .then(it => installDependencies(path.join(process.cwd(), appDir), args.arch, getElectronVersion(it, devPackageFile)))
   .catch(printErrorAndExit)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/linuxPackager.ts b/src/linuxPackager.ts
index 1df823ad9f4..cfcd15c76b7 100644
--- a/src/linuxPackager.ts
+++ b/src/linuxPackager.ts
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ export class LinuxPackager extends PlatformPackager<DebOptions> {
       version: this.metadata.version,
       title: this.metadata.name,
       comment: this.metadata.description,
-      maintainer: this.metadata.author,
+      maintainer: `${this.metadata.author.name} <${this.metadata.author.email}>`,
       arch: this.currentArch === "ia32" ? 32 : 64,
       target: "deb",
       executable: this.metadata.name,
diff --git a/src/macPackager.ts b/src/macPackager.ts
index 128e7c84d07..2231939538d 100644
--- a/src/macPackager.ts
+++ b/src/macPackager.ts
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ export default class MacPackager extends PlatformPackager<appdmg.Specification>
   }
 
   packageInDistributableFormat(outDir: string, appOutDir: string): Promise<any> {
-    const artifactPath = path.join(outDir, this.metadata.name + "-" + this.metadata.version + ".dmg")
+    const artifactPath = path.join(appOutDir, this.metadata.name + "-" + this.metadata.version + ".dmg")
     return BluebirdPromise.all([
       new BluebirdPromise<any>((resolve, reject) => {
         log("Creating DMG")
@@ -80,8 +80,7 @@ export default class MacPackager extends PlatformPackager<appdmg.Specification>
 
         specification.contents[1].path = path.join(appOutDir, this.metadata.name + ".app")
 
-        const appDmg = require("appdmg")
-        const emitter = appDmg({
+        const emitter = require("appdmg")({
           target: artifactPath,
           basepath: this.projectDir,
           specification: specification
diff --git a/src/packager.ts b/src/packager.ts
index 58be17be730..ec6caafedcd 100644
--- a/src/packager.ts
+++ b/src/packager.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import * as fs from "fs"
 import * as path from "path"
-import { DEFAULT_APP_DIR_NAME, installDependencies, log, getElectronVersion } from "./util"
-import { parseJsonFile } from "./promisifed-fs"
+import { DEFAULT_APP_DIR_NAME, installDependencies, log, getElectronVersion, readPackageJson } from "./util"
 import { all, executeFinally } from "./promise"
 import { EventEmitter } from "events"
 import { Promise as BluebirdPromise } from "bluebird"
@@ -52,22 +51,23 @@ export class Packager implements BuildInfo {
   async build(): Promise<any> {
     const buildPackageFile = this.devPackageFile
     const appPackageFile = this.projectDir === this.appDir ? buildPackageFile : path.join(this.appDir, "package.json")
-    await BluebirdPromise.all(Array.from(new Set([buildPackageFile, appPackageFile]), parseJsonFile))
-      .then((result: any[]) => {
+    const platforms = normalizePlatforms(this.options.platform)
+    await BluebirdPromise.all(Array.from(new Set([buildPackageFile, appPackageFile]), readPackageJson))
+      .then(result => {
         this.metadata = result[result.length - 1]
         this.devMetadata = result[0]
-        this.checkMetadata(appPackageFile)
+        this.checkMetadata(appPackageFile, platforms)
 
         this.electronVersion = getElectronVersion(this.devMetadata, buildPackageFile)
       })
 
     const cleanupTasks: Array<() => Promise<any>> = []
-    return executeFinally(this.doBuild(cleanupTasks), error => all(cleanupTasks.map(it => it())))
+    return executeFinally(this.doBuild(platforms, cleanupTasks), error => all(cleanupTasks.map(it => it())))
   }
 
-  private async doBuild(cleanupTasks: Array<() => Promise<any>>): Promise<any> {
+  private async doBuild(platforms: Array<string>, cleanupTasks: Array<() => Promise<any>>): Promise<any> {
     const distTasks: Array<Promise<any>> = []
-    for (let platform of normalizePlatforms(this.options.platform)) {
+    for (let platform of platforms) {
       const helper = this.createHelper(platform, cleanupTasks)
       const archs = platform === "darwin" ? ["x64"] : (this.options.arch == null || this.options.arch === "all" ? ["ia32", "x64"] : [this.options.arch])
       for (let arch of archs) {
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ export class Packager implements BuildInfo {
     return absoluteAppPath
   }
 
-  private checkMetadata(appPackageFile: string): void {
+  private checkMetadata(appPackageFile: string, platforms: Array<string>): void {
     const reportError = (missedFieldName: string) => {
       throw new Error("Please specify '" + missedFieldName + "' in the application package.json ('" + appPackageFile + "')")
     }
@@ -154,8 +154,14 @@ export class Packager implements BuildInfo {
     else if (metadata.build == null) {
       throw new Error(util.format(errorMessages.buildIsMissed, appPackageFile))
     }
-    else if (metadata.author == null) {
-      reportError("author")
+    else {
+      const author = metadata.author
+      if (author == null) {
+        reportError("author")
+      }
+      else if (this.options.dist && author.email == null && platforms.includes("linux")) {
+        throw new Error(util.format(errorMessages.authorEmailIsMissed, appPackageFile))
+      }
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/src/platformPackager.ts b/src/platformPackager.ts
index 4df0b31a0b5..5186c71d1a7 100644
--- a/src/platformPackager.ts
+++ b/src/platformPackager.ts
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ export abstract class PlatformPackager<DC> implements ProjectMetadataProvider {
       "app-version": version,
       "build-version": buildVersion,
       "version-string": {
-        CompanyName: this.metadata.author,
+        CompanyName: this.metadata.author.name,
         FileDescription: this.metadata.description,
         ProductVersion: version,
         FileVersion: buildVersion,
diff --git a/src/promisifed-fs.ts b/src/promisifed-fs.ts
index 0f488c36d56..f1212ba1ef2 100644
--- a/src/promisifed-fs.ts
+++ b/src/promisifed-fs.ts
@@ -1,54 +1,18 @@
 import * as fs from "fs"
-import { parse as _parseJson } from "json-parse-helpfulerror"
 import { Promise as BluebirdPromise } from "bluebird"
-import rimraf = require("rimraf")
 
 const readFileAsync: ((filename: string, encoding?: string) => Promise<string | Buffer>) = BluebirdPromise.promisify(fs.readFile)
-const writeFileAsync = BluebirdPromise.promisify(fs.writeFile)
 
 export function readText(file: string): BluebirdPromise<string> {
   return <BluebirdPromise<string>>readFileAsync(file, "utf8")
 }
 
-export function readBytes(file: string): BluebirdPromise<Buffer> {
-  return <BluebirdPromise<Buffer>>readFileAsync(file)
-}
-
-export function writeFile(path: string, data: string | Buffer): BluebirdPromise<any> {
-  return writeFileAsync(path, data)
-}
-
-export function parseJsonFile(file: string): BluebirdPromise<any> {
-  return readText(file).
-    then(it => parseJson(it, file))
-}
-
-export function parseJson(data: string, path: string): any {
-  try {
-    return _parseJson(data)
-  }
-  catch (e) {
-    if (e instanceof SyntaxError) {
-      throw new Error("Cannot parse '" + path + "': " + e.message)
-    }
-    else {
-      throw e
-    }
-  }
-}
-
 export function deleteFile(path: string, ignoreIfNotExists: boolean = false): BluebirdPromise<any> {
   return new BluebirdPromise<any>((resolve, reject) => {
     fs.unlink(path, it => it == null || (ignoreIfNotExists && it.code === "ENOENT") ? resolve(null) : reject(it))
   })
 }
 
-export function deleteDirectory(path: string) {
-  return new BluebirdPromise<any>((resolve, reject) => {
-    rimraf(path, {glob: false}, error => error == null ? resolve(null) : reject(error))
-  })
-}
-
 // returns new name
 export function renameFile(oldPath: string, newPath: string): BluebirdPromise<string> {
   return new BluebirdPromise<any>((resolve, reject) => {
diff --git a/src/repositoryInfo.ts b/src/repositoryInfo.ts
index 97e9c478089..dac2535f32d 100644
--- a/src/repositoryInfo.ts
+++ b/src/repositoryInfo.ts
@@ -14,11 +14,16 @@ export interface Metadata {
   repository: string | RepositoryInfo
 }
 
+export interface MetadataAuthor {
+  name: string
+  email: string
+}
+
 export interface AppMetadata extends Metadata {
   version: string
   name: string
   description: string
-  author: string
+  author: MetadataAuthor
 
   build: BuildMetadata
 
diff --git a/src/util.ts b/src/util.ts
index 9d385166abc..546300b68bb 100644
--- a/src/util.ts
+++ b/src/util.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { execFile, spawn as _spawn } from "child_process"
 import { Promise as BluebirdPromise } from "bluebird"
 import "source-map-support/register"
+import readPackageJsonAsync = require("read-package-json")
 
 export const log = console.log
 
@@ -18,6 +19,7 @@ export const commonArgs: any[] = [{
 }]
 
 const execFileAsync: (file: string, args?: string[], options?: ExecOptions) => BluebirdPromise<Buffer[]> = (<any>BluebirdPromise.promisify(execFile, {multiArgs: true}))
+export const readPackageJson = BluebirdPromise.promisify(readPackageJsonAsync)
 
 export function installDependencies(appDir: string, arch: string, electronVersion: string): BluebirdPromise<any> {
   log("Installing app dependencies for arch %s to %s", arch || process.arch, appDir)
diff --git a/test/BuildTest.js b/test/BuildTest.js
index 04c2e952167..8a3bbaf2c50 100644
--- a/test/BuildTest.js
+++ b/test/BuildTest.js
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import * as path from "path"
 import { parse as parsePlist } from "plist"
 import { Packager } from "../out/packager"
 import { exec } from "../out/util"
-import { deleteDirectory, readText } from "../out/promisifed-fs"
+import { readText } from "../out/promisifed-fs"
 import { CSC_LINK, CSC_KEY_PASSWORD } from "./helpers/codeSignData"
 import pathSorter from "path-sort"
 
@@ -136,6 +136,10 @@ if (process.platform !== "win32") {
   test("linux", async function () {
     await assertPack("test-app-one", "linux")
   })
+
+  test("no-author-email", async (t) => {
+    t.throws(assertPack("test-app-no-author-email", "linux"), /Please specify author 'email' in .*/)
+  })
 }
 
 if (!process.env.TRAVIS) {
@@ -145,4 +149,4 @@ if (!process.env.TRAVIS) {
   test("win: nsis", async function () {
     await assertPack("test-app-one", "win32", ["nsis"], true)
   })
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/fixtures/test-app-no-author-email/package.json b/test/fixtures/test-app-no-author-email/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..cb88b903213
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/test-app-no-author-email/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+{
+  "private": true,
+  "name": "TestApp",
+  "version": "1.0.0",
+  "description": "Test Application",
+  "author": "Foo Bar",
+  "devDependencies": {
+    "electron-prebuilt": "^0.36.7"
+  },
+  "build": {
+    "app-bundle-id": "your.id",
+    "app-category-type": "your.app.category.type",
+    "iconUrl": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/szwacz/electron-boilerplate/master/resources/windows/icon.ico"
+  }
+}
diff --git a/test/fixtures/test-app-one/package.json b/test/fixtures/test-app-one/package.json
index c19b9ca22d9..5f30e795a1b 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/test-app-one/package.json
+++ b/test/fixtures/test-app-one/package.json
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
   "scripts": {
     "start": "electron ."
   },
-  "author": "Foo Bar",
+  "author": "Foo Bar <foo@example.com>",
   "devDependencies": {
     "electron-prebuilt": "^0.36.7"
   },
diff --git a/tsconfig.json b/tsconfig.json
index 6a9a0ab4c4a..8b67189c1be 100644
--- a/tsconfig.json
+++ b/tsconfig.json
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@
     "typings/electron-packager.d.ts",
     "typings/gh-api.d.ts",
     "typings/hosted-git-info.d.ts",
-    "typings/json-parse-helpfulerror.d.ts",
     "typings/main/ambient/fs-extra/fs-extra.d.ts",
     "typings/main/ambient/gm/gm.d.ts",
     "typings/main/ambient/mime/mime.d.ts",
@@ -41,6 +40,7 @@
     "typings/main/definitions/source-map-support/source-map-support.d.ts",
     "typings/node.d.ts",
     "typings/progress-stream.d.ts",
+    "typings/read-package-json.d.ts",
     "typings/rimraf.d.ts",
     "node_modules/typescript/lib/lib.es7.d.ts",
     "src/awaiter.ts",
diff --git a/typings/json-parse-helpfulerror.d.ts b/typings/json-parse-helpfulerror.d.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 814303a6818..00000000000
--- a/typings/json-parse-helpfulerror.d.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-declare module "json-parse-helpfulerror" {
-  function parse(data: string): any
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/typings/read-package-json.d.ts b/typings/read-package-json.d.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a8cee7c282d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/typings/read-package-json.d.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+declare module "read-package-json" {
+  function readJson(file: string, callback: (error: Error, data: any) => void): void
+
+  export = readJson
+}
\ No newline at end of file