diff --git a/contrib/builddeb b/contrib/builddeb
--- a/contrib/builddeb
+++ b/contrib/builddeb
@@ -46,6 +46,13 @@ if [ ! -d .hg ]; then
 fi
 
 gethgversion
+debver="$version"
+if [ -n "$type" ] ; then
+    debver="$debver~$type"
+fi
+if [ -n "$distance" ] ; then
+    debver="$debver+$distance-$node"
+fi
 
 control=debian/control
 changelog=debian/changelog
@@ -61,7 +68,7 @@ if [ "$BUILD" ]; then
 
     # This looks like sed -i, but sed -i behaves just differently enough
     # between BSD and GNU sed that I gave up and did the dumb thing.
-    sed "s/__VERSION__/$version/" < $changelog > $changelog.tmp
+    sed "s/__VERSION__/$debver/" < $changelog > $changelog.tmp
     date=$(date --rfc-2822)
     sed "s/__DATE__/$date/" < $changelog.tmp > $changelog
     rm $changelog.tmp
@@ -79,6 +86,6 @@ if [ "$CLEANUP" ] ; then
     find ../mercurial*.deb ../mercurial_*.build ../mercurial_*.changes \
           -type f -newer $control -print0 | \
       xargs -Inarf -0 mv narf "$OUTPUTDIR"
-    echo "Built packages for $version-$release:"
+    echo "Built packages for $debver:"
     find "$OUTPUTDIR" -type f -newer $control -name '*.deb'
 fi
diff --git a/contrib/buildrpm b/contrib/buildrpm
--- a/contrib/buildrpm
+++ b/contrib/buildrpm
@@ -49,6 +49,18 @@ fi
 
 gethgversion
 
+# TODO: handle distance/node set, and type set
+
+if [ -z "$type" ] ; then
+   release=1
+else
+    release=0.9_$type
+fi
+
+if [ -n "$distance" ] ; then
+    release=$release+$distance_$node
+fi
+
 if [ "$PYTHONVER" ]; then
     release=$release+$PYTHONVER
     RPMPYTHONVER=$PYTHONVER
diff --git a/contrib/packagelib.sh b/contrib/packagelib.sh
--- a/contrib/packagelib.sh
+++ b/contrib/packagelib.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+# Extract version number into 4 parts, some of which may be empty:
+#
+# version: the numeric part of the most recent tag. Will always look like 1.3.
+#
+# type: if an rc build, "rc", otherwise empty
+#
+# distance: the distance from the nearest tag, or empty if built from a tag
+#
+# node: the node|short hg was built from, or empty if built from a tag
 gethgversion() {
     make clean
     make local || make local PURE=--pure
@@ -7,13 +16,20 @@ gethgversion() {
 
     hgversion=`$HG version | sed -ne 's/.*(version \(.*\))$/\1/p'`
 
+    if echo $hgversion | grep + > /dev/null 2>&1 ; then
+        tmp=`echo $hgversion | cut -d+ -f 2`
+        hgversion=`echo $hgversion | cut -d+ -f 1`
+        distance=`echo $tmp | cut -d- -f 1`
+        node=`echo $tmp | cut -d- -f 2`
+    else
+        distance=''
+        node=''
+    fi
     if echo $hgversion | grep -- '-' > /dev/null 2>&1; then
-        # nightly build case, version is like 1.3.1+250-20b91f91f9ca
         version=`echo $hgversion | cut -d- -f1`
-        release=`echo $hgversion | cut -d- -f2 | sed -e 's/+.*//'`
+        type=`echo $hgversion | cut -d- -f2`
     else
-        # official tag, version is like 1.3.1
-        version=`echo $hgversion | sed -e 's/+.*//'`
-        release='0'
+        version=$hgversion
+        type=''
     fi
 }