dh_compress: command not found

Have You tried accessing the binary with the full path?

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/dh_compress - from package: debhelper

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