diff --git a/Alien/Package.pm b/Alien/Package.pm
index 7dcb4fb..34e7289 100644
--- a/Alien/Package.pm
+++ b/Alien/Package.pm
@@ -206,6 +206,23 @@ sub filename {
 	return $this->{filename};
 }
 
+=item scripts
+
+Returns a list of all non-empty maintainer scripts in the package.
+
+=cut
+
+sub scripts {
+	my $this=shift;
+
+	my @ret;
+	foreach my $s (qw{postinst postrm preinst prerm}) {
+		my $val=$this->$s;
+		push(@ret, $s) if defined $val && length $val;
+	}
+	return @ret;
+}
+
 =item scan
 
 This method scans the file associated with an object, and populates as many
diff --git a/Alien/Package/Deb.pm b/Alien/Package/Deb.pm
index 1786dbd..096fb38 100644
--- a/Alien/Package/Deb.pm
+++ b/Alien/Package/Deb.pm
@@ -330,12 +330,11 @@ sub prep {
 	open (OUT, ">$dir/debian/changelog") || die "$dir/debian/changelog: $!";
 	print OUT $this->name." (".$this->version."-".$this->release.") experimental; urgency=low\n";
 	print OUT "\n";
-	print OUT "  * Converted from .".$this->origformat." format to .deb\n";
-	print OUT "    by alien version $Alien::Version\n";
+	print OUT "  * Converted from .".$this->origformat." format to .deb by alien version $Alien::Version\n";
 	print OUT "\n";
 	print OUT " -- ".$this->username." <".$this->email.">  ".$this->date."\n";
 	print OUT "\n";
-	print OUT $this->changelogtext."\n";
+	print OUT $this->changelogtext."\n" if defined $this->changelogtext;
 	close OUT;
 
 	# Control file.
diff --git a/Alien/Package/Pkg.pm b/Alien/Package/Pkg.pm
index 9af2c8c..67b33fd 100644
--- a/Alien/Package/Pkg.pm
+++ b/Alien/Package/Pkg.pm
@@ -88,6 +88,8 @@ sub checkfile {
 	my $line = <F>;
 	close F;
 
+	return unless defined $line;
+	
 	if($line =~ "# PaCkAgE DaTaStReAm") {
 		return 1;
 	}
diff --git a/alien.pl b/alien.pl
index 31a6a6b..005138f 100755
--- a/alien.pl
+++ b/alien.pl
@@ -321,7 +321,7 @@ Usage: alien [options] file [...]
                             looking for patch in /var/lib/alien.
        --nopatch	    Do not use patches.
        --anypatch           Use even old version os patches.
-       --single             Like --generate, but do not create .orig
+       -s, --single         Like --generate, but do not create .orig
                             directory.
        --fixperms           Munge/fix permissions and owners.
        --test               Test generated packages with lintian.
@@ -415,11 +415,11 @@ if ($> != 0) {
 		die "Must run as root to convert to deb format (or you may use fakeroot).\n";
 	}
 	print STDERR "Warning: alien is not running as root!\n";
-	print STDERR "Ownerships of files in the generated packages will probably be messed up.\n";
+	print STDERR "Warning: Ownerships of files in the generated packages will probably be wrong.\n";
 }
 
 foreach my $file (@ARGV) {
-	if (! -f $file) {
+	if (! -e $file) {
 		die "File \"$file\" not found.\n";
 	}
 
@@ -452,7 +452,13 @@ foreach my $file (@ARGV) {
 		die "Unknown type of package, $file.\n";
 	}
 
-	$package->usescripts($scripts) unless $package->usescripts;
+	if (! $package->usescripts && $package->scripts) {
+		$package->usescripts($scripts);
+		if (! $scripts) {
+			print STDERR "Warning: Skipping conversion of scripts in package ".$package->name.": ".join(" ", $package->scripts)."\n";
+			print STDERR "Warning: Use the --scripts parameter to include the scripts.\n";
+		}
+	}
 
 	# Increment release.
 	unless (defined $keepversion) {
@@ -476,14 +482,14 @@ foreach my $file (@ARGV) {
 			
 			# Mutate package into desired format.
 			bless($package, "Alien::Package::".ucfirst($format));
-		
+			
 			# Make .orig.tar.gz directory?
 			if ($format eq 'deb' && ! $single && $generate) {
 				# Make .orig.tar.gz directory.
 				Alien::Package->do("cp", "-fa", "--", $package->unpacked_tree, $package->unpacked_tree.".orig")
 					or die "cp -fa failed";
 			}
-	
+			
 			# See if a patch file should be used.
 			if ($format eq 'deb' && ! $nopatch) {
 				if (defined $patchfile) {
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index c8d1227..dff020c 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+alien (8.56) unstable; urgency=low
+
+  * Warn if a package contains maintainer scripts which are not converted,
+    since this can result in broken packages.
+  * Many small fixes.
+
+ -- Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>  Tue, 19 Jul 2005 20:21:42 -0400
+
 alien (8.55) unstable; urgency=low
 
   * Add lgtoclnt patch from Clint. Closes: #276365