diff --git a/changelog.d/7839.docker b/changelog.d/7839.docker
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..cdf3c9631c27
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/7839.docker
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Base docker image on Debian Buster rather than Alpine Linux. Contributed by @maquis196.
diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile b/docker/Dockerfile
index 093e89af6c56..8b3a4246a5fe 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -16,35 +16,31 @@ ARG PYTHON_VERSION=3.7
 ###
 ### Stage 0: builder
 ###
-FROM docker.io/python:${PYTHON_VERSION}-alpine3.11 as builder
+FROM docker.io/python:${PYTHON_VERSION}-slim as builder
 
 # install the OS build deps
 
-RUN apk add \
-        build-base \
-        libffi-dev \
-        libjpeg-turbo-dev \
-        libwebp-dev \
-        libressl-dev \
-        libxslt-dev \
-        linux-headers \
-        postgresql-dev \
-        zlib-dev
 
-# build things which have slow build steps, before we copy synapse, so that
-# the layer can be cached.
-#
-# (we really just care about caching a wheel here, as the "pip install" below
-# will install them again.)
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
+    build-essential \
+    libpq-dev \
+ && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
+# Build dependencies that are not available as wheels, to speed up rebuilds
 RUN pip install --prefix="/install" --no-warn-script-location \
-        cryptography \
-        msgpack-python \
-        pillow \
-        pynacl
+        frozendict \
+        jaeger-client \
+        opentracing \
+        prometheus-client \
+        psycopg2 \
+        pycparser \
+        pyrsistent \
+        pyyaml \
+        simplejson \
+        threadloop \
+        thrift
 
 # now install synapse and all of the python deps to /install.
-
 COPY synapse /synapse/synapse/
 COPY scripts /synapse/scripts/
 COPY MANIFEST.in README.rst setup.py synctl /synapse/
@@ -56,20 +52,13 @@ RUN pip install --prefix="/install" --no-warn-script-location \
 ### Stage 1: runtime
 ###
 
-FROM docker.io/python:${PYTHON_VERSION}-alpine3.11
+FROM docker.io/python:${PYTHON_VERSION}-slim
 
-# xmlsec is required for saml support
-RUN apk add --no-cache --virtual .runtime_deps \
-        libffi \
-        libjpeg-turbo \
-        libwebp \
-        libressl \
-        libxslt \
-        libpq \
-        zlib \
-        su-exec \
-        tzdata \
-        xmlsec
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
+    libpq5 \
+    xmlsec1 \
+    gosu \
+ && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 COPY --from=builder /install /usr/local
 COPY ./docker/start.py /start.py
diff --git a/docker/start.py b/docker/start.py
index 2a25c9380e34..9f081341581b 100755
--- a/docker/start.py
+++ b/docker/start.py
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ def generate_config_from_template(config_dir, config_path, environ, ownership):
 
     if ownership is not None:
         subprocess.check_output(["chown", "-R", ownership, "/data"])
-        args = ["su-exec", ownership] + args
+        args = ["gosu", ownership] + args
 
     subprocess.check_output(args)
 
@@ -172,8 +172,8 @@ def run_generate_config(environ, ownership):
         # make sure that synapse has perms to write to the data dir.
         subprocess.check_output(["chown", ownership, data_dir])
 
-        args = ["su-exec", ownership] + args
-        os.execv("/sbin/su-exec", args)
+        args = ["gosu", ownership] + args
+        os.execv("/usr/sbin/gosu", args)
     else:
         os.execv("/usr/local/bin/python", args)
 
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ def main(args, environ):
         ownership = "{}:{}".format(desired_uid, desired_gid)
 
     if ownership is None:
-        log("Will not perform chmod/su-exec as UserID already matches request")
+        log("Will not perform chmod/gosu as UserID already matches request")
 
     # In generate mode, generate a configuration and missing keys, then exit
     if mode == "generate":
@@ -236,8 +236,8 @@ def main(args, environ):
 
     args = ["python", "-m", synapse_worker, "--config-path", config_path]
     if ownership is not None:
-        args = ["su-exec", ownership] + args
-        os.execv("/sbin/su-exec", args)
+        args = ["gosu", ownership] + args
+        os.execv("/usr/sbin/gosu", args)
     else:
         os.execv("/usr/local/bin/python", args)