I've done some work in packaging ansela. Get those two:

ansela.tgz and debian.tgz.

The first is a slightly modified version of ansela. Use diff to see changes. The second is a proper debian/ directory that installs ansela using cdbs.

How it works:

• Develop in the directory where ansela.tgz is expanded. No need to store files in predefined directories.
• When creating a new release, change the version in setup.py and run ./sdist
• Create a new directory (e.g. 1.0) and copy dist/ansela.X-Y.tar.gz in there.
• Link ansela.X-Y.tar.gz to ansela_X.Y.orig.tar.gz
• Unpack ansela.X-Y.tar.gz.
• Go to the extracted directory (e.g. ansela-0.9) and unpack the debian.tgz.
• Issue "dch -i" and add a proper comment. Don't forget to change the version from the entry you're changing and include your true name.
• Issue "dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot"

This should leave you with a .deb, a .changes, a .dsc, etc... in the parent directory.

Using this method you will not depend on py2deb which (in my experience) will cause you a lot of pain. You will be able to change the debian/* files as you wish. In fact, the included debian.tgz needs some work in there (your full name, etc...)

If you create a garage project with svn I can commit those changes there directly.