diff --git a/Vagrantfile b/Vagrantfile
index f3bd241bd5..af7e55b606 100644
--- a/Vagrantfile
+++ b/Vagrantfile
@@ -64,7 +64,8 @@ ALAVETELI_OS = ENV['ALAVETELI_VAGRANT_OS'] || 'precise64'
 
 SUPPORTED_OPERATING_SYSTEMS = {
   'precise64' => 'https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/vagrant/precise/current/precise-server-cloudimg-amd64-vagrant-disk1.box',
-  'wheezy64' => 'http://puppet-vagrant-boxes.puppetlabs.com/debian-73-x64-virtualbox-nocm.box'
+  'wheezy64' => 'http://puppet-vagrant-boxes.puppetlabs.com/debian-73-x64-virtualbox-nocm.box',
+  'jessie64' => 'https://atlas.hashicorp.com/puppetlabs/boxes/debian-8.2-64-nocm'
 }
 
 def box
@@ -78,7 +79,11 @@ end
 VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION = "2"
 
 Vagrant.configure(VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION) do |config|
-  config.vm.box = box
+  config.vm.box = if box == 'jessie64'
+    'puppetlabs/debian-8.2-64-nocm'
+  else
+    box
+  end
   config.vm.box_url = box_url
   config.vm.network :private_network, :ip => "10.10.10.30"
 
@@ -127,6 +132,18 @@ To start your alaveteli instance:
 * bundle exec rails server
 EOF
 
+  if ALAVETELI_OS == 'jessie64'
+    # workaround for dynamic MOTD support on jessie
+    # adapted from: https://oitibs.com/debian-jessie-dynamic-motd/
+    config.vm.provision :shell, :inline => "mkdir /etc/update-motd.d/"
+    config.vm.provision :shell, :inline => "cd /etc/update-motd.d/ && touch 00-header && touch 10-sysinfo && touch 90-footer
+"
+    config.vm.provision :shell, :inline => "echo '#!/bin/sh' >> /etc/update-motd.d/90-footer"
+    config.vm.provision :shell, :inline => "echo '[ -f /etc/motd.tail ] && cat /etc/motd.tail || true' >> /etc/update-motd.d/90-footer"
+    config.vm.provision :shell, :inline => "chmod +x /etc/update-motd.d/*"
+    config.vm.provision :shell, :inline => "rm /etc/motd"
+    config.vm.provision :shell, :inline => "ln -s /var/run/motd /etc/motd"
+  end
   config.vm.provision :shell, :inline => "echo '#{ motd }' >> /etc/motd.tail"
 
   # Display next steps info at the end of a successful install
diff --git a/commonlib b/commonlib
index 887c82a928..1426271aff 160000
--- a/commonlib
+++ b/commonlib
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 887c82a928d95efa6a9429ed3ebdd0d311133d1d
+Subproject commit 1426271aff3b8147983b4ddf3a1411328e29a104
diff --git a/config/packages.debian-jessie b/config/packages.debian-jessie
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..636d5c57e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/packages.debian-jessie
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+build-essential
+bundler
+catdoc
+elinks
+geoip-database
+gettext
+ghostscript
+gnuplot-nox
+libicu-dev
+libmagic-dev
+libmagickwand-dev
+libpq-dev
+libsqlite3-dev
+libxml2-dev
+libxslt-dev
+links
+lockfile-progs
+mutt
+pdftk
+php5-cli
+poppler-utils
+postgresql
+postgresql-client
+python-yaml
+rake
+ruby2.1-dev
+ruby2.1
+rubygems
+sqlite3
+tnef
+unrtf
+unzip
+uuid-dev
+wkhtmltopdf-static
+wv
+xapian-tools
+ttf-bitstream-vera
diff --git a/doc/CHANGES.md b/doc/CHANGES.md
index d30e7c84fb..c7f489fbc5 100644
--- a/doc/CHANGES.md
+++ b/doc/CHANGES.md
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 * Better image for pages when shared on Facebook (Zarino Zappia)
 * Official support added for ruby 2.1.5 and 2.3.0 (Louise Crow)
 * Ported the graph generation shell scripts to Ruby (Liz Conlan)
+* Official support added for Debian Jessie (Liz Conlan)
 
 ## Upgrade Notes
 
diff --git a/script/site-specific-install.sh b/script/site-specific-install.sh
index 9fc0c4eb50..a05988b652 100755
--- a/script/site-specific-install.sh
+++ b/script/site-specific-install.sh
@@ -156,9 +156,15 @@ postfix reload
 
 install_website_packages
 
-# Set ruby version to 1.9.1
-update-alternatives --set ruby /usr/bin/ruby1.9.1
-update-alternatives --set gem /usr/bin/gem1.9.1
+# use ruby 2.1.5 if it's already the default (i.e. 'jessie')
+if ruby --version | grep -q 'ruby 2.1.5' > /dev/null
+then
+  echo 'using ruby 2.1.5'
+else
+  # Set ruby version to 1.9.1
+  update-alternatives --set ruby /usr/bin/ruby1.9.1
+  update-alternatives --set gem /usr/bin/gem1.9.1
+fi
 
 # Give the unix user membership of the adm group so that they can read the mail log files
 usermod -a -G adm "$UNIX_USER"