i.came.to.get.down

Find the right version (rdiff-backup_1.2.7-1ubuntu2 in our case)

wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/r/rdiff-backup/rdiff-backup_1.2.7-1ubuntu2.dsc
wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/r/rdiff-backup/rdiff-backup_1.2.7.orig.tar.gz
wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/r/rdiff-backup/rdiff-backup_1.2.7-1ubuntu2.diff.gz

Unpack and patch

unp rdiff-backup_1.2.7.orig.tar.gz
unp rdiff-backup_1.2.7-1ubuntu2.diff.gz
patch -p0 < rdiff-backup_1.2.7-1ubuntu2.diff

Grab some depends

apt-get install fakeroot python-dev librsync-dev build-essential python-pylibacl python-pyxattr dpatch
apt-get install -t testing python

Build

chmod +x debian/rules
dpkg-buildpackage  -uc -b

Enjoy

cd ..
dpkg -i rdiff-backup_1.2.7-1ubuntu2_amd64.deb

For crispier crust

apt-get install backupninja
ninjahelper