Tools rmadison : Package versions in ubuntu cmadison : Package versions in UCA The following three don't pull git repos pull-lp-source : Download the package sources pull-uca-source : Download the package sources from the UCA pull-debian-source swift : Download the package sources from Debian git clone https://git.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-server-dev/ubuntu/+source/nova : Clone the source package source To check what the difference between two builds is (useful when changing debian/rules ), using python-magnumclient as an example: If we go to the magnumclient LP page , we can see multiple builds. At the moment, for Groovy, we can see that there is a 2.11 and a 3.1 build for it. We can cliek through to the 2.11 or 3.1 buildlog, scroll to the bottom, and see what files are included in the package. By comparing these, we can confirm that our expectations are correct regarding that the changes are.