--- a/caret/main.cxx
+++ b/caret/main.cxx
@@ -613,11 +613,13 @@
 #endif
 
 #ifdef UBUNTU
+   if (QDir("/usr/share/caret/data_files").exists() == false) {
    QtTextEditDialog* te = new QtTextEditDialog(theMainWindow, true, true);
    te->setWindowTitle("UBUNTU WARNING");
    te->setMinimumSize(600, 600);
    te->setText(UbuntuMessage::getWarningMessage());
-   te->exec();                    
+   te->exec();
+   }
 #endif UBUNTU
 
    if (initialSpecFiles.empty() == false) {
--- a/caret_common/UbuntuMessage.h
+++ b/caret_common/UbuntuMessage.h
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
       "Only versions of Caret downloaded from the above web site "
       "are supported by the Van Essen Laboratory."
       "\n\n"
-      "This version of Caret is an Ubuntu package and is neither "
+      "This version of Caret is a Debian package and is neither "
       "distributed, nor supported, by the Van Essen Laboratory."
       "\n\n"
       "Some functionality may be missing if Caret cannot locate "
@@ -33,10 +33,15 @@
       "   - Surface-Based Registration\n"
       "   - Surface Flattening\n"
       "\n"
+      "Please see /usr/share/doc/caret/README.Debian for information "
+      "on how to obtain the relevant resources as Debian package. "
+      "This message is shown, because the resource package (caret-data) "
+      "has not been found on this system.\n"
+      "\n"
       "The official Caret distribution contains specific versions "
       "of third party software known to function correctly with "
-      "Caret.  However, this Ubuntu version of Caret relies on "
-      "separately installed Ubuntu packages that contain the third party "
+      "Caret.  However, this Debian version of Caret relies on "
+      "separately installed Debian packages that contain the third party "
       "software and these third party packages may not be "
       "compatible with Caret.  As a result, some functions in Caret "
       "may not operate correctly.  Faulty surface drawing is one "
@@ -45,4 +50,4 @@
       return s;
    }
 };
-#endif // __UBUNTU_MESSAGE_H__
\ No newline at end of file
+#endif // __UBUNTU_MESSAGE_H__
