diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index 74581d6..8f2aca6 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
 cpython
+.git
+temp
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ca59704
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+/temp
+/src/out/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..85fb544
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#!/bin/bash -eux
+
+VARSFILE=$1
+
+ls -la src/$VARSFILE
+
+time docker run -it --rm --name extbuild -e "VARSFILE=$VARSFILE" -v $PWD/src:/src extpythonbuilder
diff --git a/scripts/bootstrap.sh b/scripts/bootstrap.sh
index 306d107..78abfec 100755
--- a/scripts/bootstrap.sh
+++ b/scripts/bootstrap.sh
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
-#!/bin/bash
+#!/bin/bash -eux
 
 # get metadata
-cd /src
-. vars.sh
+ln -s /src/$VARSFILE /tmp/vars.sh
+. /tmp/vars.sh
 
 # install deps
 apt-get update
-DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y $CPYTHON_DEPS
+DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confdef" -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confold" $CPYTHON_DEPS
 
 # run the build
 sudo -Hu builder /build.sh
diff --git a/scripts/build.sh b/scripts/build.sh
index 7f284f0..7f6952a 100755
--- a/scripts/build.sh
+++ b/scripts/build.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
-#!/bin/bash
+#!/bin/bash -eux
 
-. /src/vars.sh
+. /tmp/vars.sh
+
+function template {
+    perl -p -e 's/\$\{([^}]+)\}/defined $ENV{$1} ? $ENV{$1} : $&/eg' < $1
+}
 
 # create build dir
 cd /build
@@ -13,7 +17,14 @@ wget -qO- cpython.tar.gz $PYTHON_TARBALL | tar zxf - -C cpython/ --strip-compone
 
 # get debian metadata
 # todo generate the metadata here
-cp -r /src/debian /src/Makefile ./
+# cp -r /src/debian /src/Makefile ./
+mkdir debian
+export BUILD_DATE=$(date -R)
+template /src/debian/changelog | tee debian/changelog
+template /src/debian/control | tee debian/control
+cp /src/debian/compat debian/
+cp /src/debian/rules debian/
+cp /src/Makefile ./
 
 # build the deb
 time dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc -b
diff --git a/src/bionic-2.7.16.sh b/src/bionic-2.7.16.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..10c707f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/bionic-2.7.16.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#!/bin/bash -eux
+
+export PYTHON_RELEASE=2.7.16
+export PYTHON_MAJOR=2.7.16
+# export PYTHON_TARBALL="https://github.com/python/cpython/archive/v${PYTHON_RELEASE}.tar.gz"
+export PYTHON_TARBALL="http://artifact.scc.net.davepedu.com/repo/tar/cpython/cpython/cpython-${PYTHON_RELEASE}.tar.gz"
+export CPYTHON_DEPS="libssl-dev zlib1g-dev libncurses5-dev libncursesw5-dev \
+    libreadline-dev libsqlite3-dev libgdbm-dev libdb5.3-dev libbz2-dev libexpat1-dev liblzma-dev tk-dev libffi-dev"
diff --git a/src/vars.sh b/src/bionic-3.7.3.sh
similarity index 91%
rename from src/vars.sh
rename to src/bionic-3.7.3.sh
index 7fe0696..ad12fe1 100644
--- a/src/vars.sh
+++ b/src/bionic-3.7.3.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
-#!/bin/bash
+#!/bin/bash -eux
 
 export PYTHON_RELEASE=3.7.3
+export PYTHON_MAJOR=3.7
 # export PYTHON_TARBALL="https://github.com/python/cpython/archive/v${PYTHON_RELEASE}.tar.gz"
 export PYTHON_TARBALL="http://artifact.scc.net.davepedu.com/repo/tar/cpython/cpython/cpython-${PYTHON_RELEASE}.tar.gz"
 export CPYTHON_DEPS="libssl-dev zlib1g-dev libncurses5-dev libncursesw5-dev \
diff --git a/src/bionic-3.8.0a4.sh b/src/bionic-3.8.0a4.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aa4532f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/bionic-3.8.0a4.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#!/bin/bash -eux
+
+export PYTHON_RELEASE=3.8.0a4
+export PYTHON_MAJOR=3.8.0a4
+# export PYTHON_TARBALL="https://github.com/python/cpython/archive/v${PYTHON_RELEASE}.tar.gz"
+export PYTHON_TARBALL="http://artifact.scc.net.davepedu.com/repo/tar/cpython/cpython/cpython-${PYTHON_RELEASE}.tar.gz"
+export CPYTHON_DEPS="libssl-dev zlib1g-dev libncurses5-dev libncursesw5-dev \
+    libreadline-dev libsqlite3-dev libgdbm-dev libdb5.3-dev libbz2-dev libexpat1-dev liblzma-dev tk-dev libffi-dev"
diff --git a/src/debian/changelog b/src/debian/changelog
index 5465bf4..d6255d9 100644
--- a/src/debian/changelog
+++ b/src/debian/changelog
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-extpython-python3.7 (3.7.3) unstable; urgency=low
+extpython-python${PYTHON_MAJOR} (${PYTHON_RELEASE}) unstable; urgency=low
 
   * Initial release
 
- -- Dave Pedu <dave@davepedu.com>  Thu, 30 May 2019 08:47:19 -0800
+ -- Dave Pedu <dave@davepedu.com>  ${BUILD_DATE}
diff --git a/src/debian/control b/src/debian/control
index 648d86b..33911df 100644
--- a/src/debian/control
+++ b/src/debian/control
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-Source: extpython-python3.7
+Source: extpython-python${PYTHON_MAJOR}
 Section: unknown
 Priority: optional
 Maintainer: ubuntu <ubuntu@unknown>
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 8.0.0)
 Standards-Version: 3.9.4
 Homepage: <insert the upstream URL, if relevant>
 
-Package: extpython-python3.7
+Package: extpython-python${PYTHON_MAJOR}
 Architecture: amd64
 Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}
 Description: <insert up to 60 chars description>