diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
deleted file mode 120000
index d526672c..00000000
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-debian/changelog
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index f321e57b..aaf6005c 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 byobu (2.49) unreleased; urgency=low
 
-  * UNRELEASED
+  * ChangeLog: replace symlink with URLs to pertinent changelog information
+  * debian/rules: fix get-orig-source target, such that .bzr and debian
+    directories are not shipped as part of the upstream release tarball
+  * debian/release-build.sh: perform some rudimentary checks for recurring
+    issues with release tarballs
 
  -- Dustin Kirkland <kirkland@ubuntu.com>  Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:54:58 +1300
 
diff --git a/debian/release-build.sh b/debian/release-build.sh
index 0c187651..7ca479fe 100755
--- a/debian/release-build.sh
+++ b/debian/release-build.sh
@@ -10,6 +10,15 @@ error() {
 head -n1 debian/changelog | grep "unreleased" || error "This version must be 'unreleased'"
 
 ./debian/rules get-orig-source
+if tar -tvf ../byobu_*.orig.tar.gz | egrep "bzr|debian"; then
+	echo "ERROR: release tarball has invalid files"
+	exit 1
+fi
+if tar -tvf ../byobu_*.orig.tar.gz | egrep "/bin/|/lib/" | grep -v "rwxr-xr-x"; then
+	echo "ERROR: release tarball has binaries with incorrect permissions"
+	exit 1
+fi
+
 bzr bd
 sed -i "s/) unreleased;/-0ubuntu1~ppa1) hardy;/" debian/changelog
 bzr bd -S
diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index fa9a4471..35952670 100755
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -9,7 +9,15 @@ VER=`head -n 1 debian/changelog | sed 's/^.*(//' | sed 's/).*//' | sed 's/-.*//'
 
 get-orig-source:
 	dh_testdir
-	bzr export ../${PKG}_${VER}.orig.tar.gz
+	# bzr export needs a --exclude option for the following to work:
+	#bzr export ../${PKG}_${VER}.orig.tar.gz
+	# use tar instead
+	mkdir -p ../tmp
+	rm -rf ../tmp/*
+	cp -a ${PWD} ../tmp/${PKG}-${VER}
+	tar -C ../tmp --exclude .bzr --exclude debian -zcvf ../${PKG}_${VER}.orig.tar.gz ${PKG}-${VER}
+	rm -rf ../tmp
+	ls -halF ../${PKG}_${VER}.orig.tar.gz
 
 install-po: update-pot
 	for po in po/*.po ; do \