I handle this using a set of scripts in Ubuntu's bikeshed package:
* http://manpg.es/release-build
* http://manpg.es/release
+1! I have been using these scripts extensively to do my releases, and preparing the packages to upload them into the archive or PPA's. Specifically for TestDrive and PowerNap. A common example is PowerNap, on which I use these scripts to prepare a release, test it, and once I'm satisfied, I upload them to the PPA's without having to do manual modifications to the changelogs and being able to easily release a backport in PPA for PowerNap.
These scripts are a little Ubuntu/Launchpad/Bzr specific, so I'm not
advocating their use to you (Debian), but acknowledging and supporting
Ian's suggestion to solve some duplication of effort!
I agree with you Dustin that the use of scripts like this can resolve some duplication! Even though they don't work with Debian itself, I don't see the problem of adapting them to handle both cases and then making life easier for everybody!
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