checkinstall: command not found

Maybe Your $PATH variable doesn't contain the default paths? echo $PATH should give something like:

[root@server ~]# echo $PATH
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/root/bin

If it's empty, You may set the PATH variable with this command

export PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/root/bin"

On Debian possible default full paths are:

/usr/bin/checkinstall - from package: checkinstall

You may install the required package with command apt-get install {package}

Error in other languages:
checkinstall: bevel nie gevind nie
checkinstall: comandă negăsită
checkinstall: comando não encontrado
checkinstall: commande introuvable
checkinstall: command not found
checkinstall: käsku ei ole
checkinstall: không tìm thấy lệnh
checkinstall: komanda nerasta
checkinstall: Kommando nicht gefunden.
checkinstall: kommandot finns inte
checkinstall: komut yok
checkinstall: nie znaleziono polecenia
checkinstall: níor aimsíodh an t-ordú
checkinstall: no se encontró la orden
checkinstall: no s'ha trobat l'ordre
checkinstall: opdracht niet gevonden
checkinstall: parancs nem található
checkinstall: perintah tidak ditemukan
checkinstall: príkaz nenájdený
checkinstall: příkaz nenalezen
checkinstall: команда не найдена
checkinstall: командата не е открита
checkinstall: 命令找不到
checkinstall: コマンドが見つかりません