diff --git a/Alien/Package/Deb.pm b/Alien/Package/Deb.pm
index 09234ad..ec75383 100644
--- a/Alien/Package/Deb.pm
+++ b/Alien/Package/Deb.pm
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ sub prep {
 	print OUT "Depends: \${shlibs:Depends}\n";
 	print OUT "Description: ".$this->summary."\n";
 	print OUT $this->description."\n";
-	print OUT ".\n";
+	print OUT " .\n";
 	print OUT " (Converted from a .".$this->origformat." package by alien.)\n";
 	close OUT;
 
@@ -378,7 +378,7 @@ sub build {
 	my $this=shift;
 
 	chdir $this->unpacked_tree;
-	system("debian/rules binary") && die "package build failed: $!";
+	system("debian/rules binary >/dev/null") && die "package build failed: $!";
 	chdir "..";
 
 	return $this->name."_".$this->version."-".$this->release."_".$this->arch.".deb";
diff --git a/Alien/Package/Rpm.pm b/Alien/Package/Rpm.pm
index 57bd60f..7042886 100644
--- a/Alien/Package/Rpm.pm
+++ b/Alien/Package/Rpm.pm
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ sub unpack {
 	my $workdir=$this->unpacked_tree;
 
 	system ("rpm2cpio ".$this->filename." | (cd $workdir; cpio --extract --make-directories --no-absolute-filenames --preserve-modification-time) 2>/dev/null") &&
-		die "Unpacking of `".$this->filename."' failed: $!";
+		die "Unpacking of `".$this->filename."' failed";
 	
 	# If the package is relocatable. We'd like to move it to be under
 	# the $this->prefixes directory. However, it's possible that that
@@ -215,8 +215,7 @@ sub prep {
 	my $filelist;
 	foreach my $fn (@{$this->filelist}) {
 		if ($fn =~ m:/$:) {
-			# a directory.
-			$filelist.="%dir \"$fn\"\n";
+			# a directory. Skip entirely.
 		}
 		elsif (grep(m:^\Q$fn\E$:,@conffiles)) { # it's a conffile
 			$filelist.="%config $fn\n";
@@ -323,7 +322,7 @@ sub build {
 	$opts.=" $ENV{RPMBUILDOPTS}" if exists $ENV{RPMBUILDOPTS};	
 
 	system("cd $dir; rpm $opts -bb ".$this->name."-".$this->version."-".$this->release.".spec >/dev/null") &&
-		die "package build failed: $!";
+		die "package build failed";
 
 	return $rpm;
 }
@@ -391,19 +390,19 @@ sub _script_helper {
 }
 sub postinst {
 	my $this=shift;
-	$this->_script_helper($this, 'postinst', @_);
+	$this->_script_helper('postinst', @_);
 }
 sub postrm {
 	my $this=shift;
-	$this->_script_helper($this, 'postrm', @_);
+	$this->_script_helper('postrm', @_);
 }
 sub preinst {
 	my $this=shift;
-	$this->_script_helper($this, 'preinst', @_);
+	$this->_script_helper('preinst', @_);
 }
 sub prerm {
 	my $this=shift;
-	$this->_script_helper($this, 'prerm', @_);
+	$this->_script_helper('prerm', @_);
 }
 
 =item arch
diff --git a/Alien/Package/Slp.pm b/Alien/Package/Slp.pm
index 76985fe..1e327f6 100644
--- a/Alien/Package/Slp.pm
+++ b/Alien/Package/Slp.pm
@@ -164,15 +164,19 @@ sub scan {
 	my @filelist;
 	# FIXME: support gzip files too!
 	foreach (`bzip2 -d < $file | tar -tf -`) {
+		chomp;
 		s:^\./:/:;
 		$_="/$_" unless m:^/:;
 		push @filelist, $_;
 	}
+	$this->filelist(\@filelist);
 
 	# TODO: read in postinst script.
 
 	$this->distribution('Stampede');
 	$this->origformat('slp');
+	$this->changelogtext('');
+	$this->binary_info(`ls -l $file`);
 	
 	return 1;
 }
@@ -191,12 +195,10 @@ sub unpack {
 	my $compresstype=$this->compresstype;
 
 	if ($compresstype == 0) {
-		system("bzip2 -d $file | (cd ".$this->unpacked_tree."; tar xpf -") &&
-			die "unpack failed";
+		system("bzip2 -d < $file | (cd ".$this->unpacked_tree."; tar xpf -)")
 	}
 	elsif ($compresstype == 1) {
-		system("cat $file | (cd ".$this->unpacked_tree."; tar zxpf -") &&
-			die "unpack failed";
+		system("cat $file | (cd ".$this->unpacked_tree."; tar zxpf -)")
 	}
 	else {
 		die "package uses an unknown compression type, $compresstype (please file a bug report)";
diff --git a/Alien/Package/Tgz.pm b/Alien/Package/Tgz.pm
index 26cb52b..afe459a 100644
--- a/Alien/Package/Tgz.pm
+++ b/Alien/Package/Tgz.pm
@@ -114,6 +114,8 @@ sub scan {
 	$this->release(1);
 	$this->distribution("Slackware");
 	$this->origformat('tgz');
+	$this->changelogtext('');
+	$this->binary_info(`ls -l $file`);
 
 	# Now figure out the conffiles. Assume anything in etc/ is a
 	# conffile.
diff --git a/alien b/alien
index 3ffdd52..c83e324 100755
--- a/alien
+++ b/alien
@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ GetOptions(
 	"to-slp",   sub { $destformats{slp}=1 },
 	"generate|g", \$generate,
 	"install|i", \$install,
-	"single|s", sub { $single=1; $generate =1 },
+	"single|s", sub { $single=1; $generate=1 },
 	"scripts|c", \$scripts,
 	"patch|p=s", \$patchfile,
 	"nopatch", \$nopatch,
@@ -348,7 +348,28 @@ foreach my $file (@ARGV) {
 			# Mutate package into desired format.
 			bless($package, "Alien::Package::".ucfirst($format));
 		
+			if ($format eq 'deb' && ! $single && $generate) {
+				# Make .orig.tar.gz directory.
+				system("cp -fa ".$package->unpacked_tree." ".$package->unpacked_tree.".orig") &&
+					die "cp -fa failed";
+			}
+		
 			$package->prep;
+			
+			# If generating build tree only, stop here with message.
+			if ($generate) {
+				if ($format eq 'deb' && ! $single) {
+					print "Directories ".$package->unpacked_tree." and ".$package->unpacked_tree.".orig prepared.\n"
+				}
+				else {
+					print "Directory ".$package->unpacked_tree." prepared.\n";
+				}
+				# Make sure $package does not whipe out the
+				# directory when it is destroyed.
+				$package->unpacked_tree('');
+				exit;
+			}
+			
 			my $newfile=$package->build;
 			if ($install) {
 				$package->install($newfile);
@@ -365,8 +386,5 @@ foreach my $file (@ARGV) {
 			# Note I don't unlink it. I figure that might annoy
 			# people, since it was an input file.
 		}
-		else {
-			print "$file already exists\n";
-		}
 	}
 }