Barry, IIUC you want the “debian” command to create a debian source
package, which can be converted to debian binary package(s), checked and
uploaded with standard tools. Perfect.

Andrew, I am uncomfortable with stdeb. (Trying to express respectful
constructive critique, not just picking on your project.) The version in
Debian testing, 0.5.1-1, still requires setuptools (actually only
pkg_resources, which is split into another package in Debian, for space
or politic reasons). The py2dsc script seems to be obsoleted by the
to-be “debian” command. The pypi-install script seems dangerous to me,
because downloading unverified software and putting it into the system
seems a rather bad idead (a.k.a. “sudo ./setup.py install considered
harmful”).

python-debian provides useful support code for generating and reading
debian formats. A quick read show the code would benefit from some 2.6
modernizing (i.e. gain in simplicity and readability by using modern
idioms and stdlib functions). Would using this package in stdeb /
distutils2.command.debian instead of shelling out bring anything?

(Sorry about the badly wrapped paragraph I forgot to remove in my
previous message. And sorry to write so much words instead of code ;)

acute-accent-ly yours