diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 2008772..2321d02 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -23,9 +23,13 @@ install:
 	install -d $(DESTDIR)/usr/bin $(DESTDIR)/usr/src/propellor
 	install -s dist/build/propellor/propellor $(DESTDIR)/usr/bin/propellor
 	$(CABAL) sdist
-	cat dist/propellor-*.tar.gz | \
-		(cd $(DESTDIR)/usr/src/propellor && tar zx --strip-components=1)
-	cd $(DESTDIR)/usr/src/propellor && git init && git add . && git commit -m "current version of propellor"
+	mkdir -p dist/gittmp
+	cat dist/propellor-*.tar.gz | (cd dist/gittmp && tar zx --strip-components=1)
+	cd dist/gittmp && git init && \
+		git add . \
+		&& git commit -m "distributed version of propellor" \
+		&& git bundle create $(DESTDIR)/usr/src/propellor/propellor.git master HEAD
+	rm -rf dist/gittmp
 
 clean:
 	rm -rf dist Setup tags propellor privdata/local
diff --git a/debian/README.Debian b/debian/README.Debian
index 73fea47..9fa53c7 100644
--- a/debian/README.Debian
+++ b/debian/README.Debian
@@ -7,10 +7,16 @@ repository in ~/.propellor/, and run ~/.propellor/propellor if it exists.
 Edit ~/.propellor/config.hs to configure it.
 
 Note that upgrading the propellor package will not update your
-~/.propellor/ repository. You can `git pull upstream` in your repository to
-update to the current upstream source, as distributed in the Debian
-package.
+~/.propellor/ repository. This is because you may have local changes
+to the source, or may need to adapt your config.hs to work with the new
+version of propellor. Instead, if your ~/.propellor/ is from an older
+version of propellor, /usr/bin/propellor will warn that it's out of date.
 
-Older versions of propellor set the upstream remote to
-point to a repository on github, so if you used one of them, you may want
-to change it to point to the new location, /usr/src/propellor/
+You can `git pull upstream` in your repository to update to the
+current upstream source, as distributed in the Debian package.
+
+In older versions of propellor, the upstream remote was pointed at
+the repository on github, so you may want to change it to point
+to the repository included in the Debian package:
+
+	git config remote.upstream.url /usr/src/propellor/propellor.git
diff --git a/debian/lintian-overrides b/debian/lintian-overrides
deleted file mode 100644
index a5cccca..0000000
--- a/debian/lintian-overrides
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-# These files are used in a git repository that propellor sets up.
-propellor: package-contains-vcs-control-file usr/src/propellor/.gitignore
diff --git a/propellor.cabal b/propellor.cabal
index 809636c..5bca932 100644
--- a/propellor.cabal
+++ b/propellor.cabal
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ Extra-Source-Files:
   debian/control
   debian/copyright
   debian/rules
-  debian/lintian-overrides
 Synopsis: property-based host configuration management in haskell
 Description:
  Propellor enures that the system it's run in satisfies a list of
diff --git a/src/wrapper.hs b/src/wrapper.hs
index 694067d..4c3f807 100644
--- a/src/wrapper.hs
+++ b/src/wrapper.hs
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ import System.Exit
 import System.Posix.Directory
 
 localrepo :: FilePath
-localrepo = "/usr/src/propellor"
+localrepo = "/usr/src/propellor/propellor.git"
 
 -- Using the github mirror of the main propellor repo because
 -- it is accessible over https for better security.
@@ -56,28 +56,13 @@ wrapper args propellordir propellorbin = do
 	makeRepo = do
 		putStrLn $ "Setting up your propellor repo in " ++ propellordir
 		putStrLn ""
-		ifM (doesDirectoryExist localrepo)
-			( do
-				void $ boolSystem "git" [Param "clone", File localrepo, File propellordir]
-				setuprepo True localrepo
+		ifM (doesFileExist localrepo <||> doesDirectoryExist localrepo)
+			( void $ boolSystem "git" [Param "clone", File localrepo, File propellordir]
 			, do
 				void $ boolSystem "git" [Param "clone", Param netrepo, File propellordir] 
-				setuprepo False netrepo
+				whenM (doesDirectoryExist (propellordir </> "privdata")) $
+					mapM_ nukeFile =<< dirContents (propellordir </> "privdata")
 			)
-	setuprepo fromlocalrepo repolocation = do
-		changeWorkingDirectory propellordir
-		whenM (doesDirectoryExist "privdata") $
-			mapM_ nukeFile =<< dirContents "privdata"
-		void $ boolSystem "git" [Param "remote", Param "rm", Param "origin"]
-		void $ boolSystem "git" [Param "remote", Param "add", Param "upstream", Param repolocation]
-		-- Connect synthetic git repo with upstream history so
-		-- merging with upstream will work going forward.
-		-- Note -s ours is used to avoid getting any divergent
-		-- changes from upstream.
-		when (not fromlocalrepo) $ do
-			void $ boolSystem "git" [Param "fetch", Param "upstream"]
-			version <- readProcess "dpkg-query" ["--showformat", "${Version}", "--show", "propellor"]
-			void $ boolSystem "git" [Param "merge", Param "-s", Param "ours", Param version]
 	buildruncfg = do
 		changeWorkingDirectory propellordir
 		ifM (boolSystem "make" [Param "build"])