Ok, nearly there... thanks for the help, still struggling on one thing, here is the term log but basically the deb sig doesn't match the other two and i'm not sure why. i even tried replacing it:
[10:18:21 main]$ debsigs -sign=origin -default-key="Herb Gilliland (fed author) <herb.gilliland@gmail.com>" fed_0.94a-1_i386.deb
You need a passphrase to unlock the secret key for
2048-bit RSA key, ID DE8473B0, created 2016-04-05
You need a passphrase to unlock the secret key for
2048-bit RSA key, ID DE8473B0, created 2016-04-05
You need a passphrase to unlock the secret key for
2048-bit RSA key, ID DE8473B0, created 2016-04-05
Successfully signed dsc and changes files
[~/temp]
debsigs --list fed_0.94a-1_i386.deb
GPG signatures in fed_0.94a-1_i386.deb:
origin: signed by AA74DF0CDE8473B0 on Mon Apr 4 23:21:48 2016
*** NO ATTEMPT HAS BEEN MADE TO VERIFY THE LISTED SIGNATURES ***
[~/temp]
[10:09:13 main]$ debsig-verify fed_0.94a-1_i386.deb
debsig: Could not open Origin dir /etc/debsig/policies/AA74DF0CDE8473B0: No such file or directory
[~/temp]
[10:09:24 main]$ debsigs --delete=origin fed_0.94a-1_i386.deb
[10:18:21 main]$ debsigs -sign=origin -default-key="Herb Gilliland (fed author) <
herb.gilliland@gmail.com>" fed_0.94a-1_i386.deb
You need a passphrase to unlock the secret key for
2048-bit RSA key, ID DE8473B0, created 2016-04-05
[~/temp]
[10:20:54 main]$ ls
fed fed_0.94a-1.debian.tar.gz fed_0.94a-1.dsc fed_0.94a-1_i386.build fed_0.94a-1_i386.changes fed_0.94a-1_i386.deb fed_0.94a.orig.tar.gz
[~/temp]
[10:20:56 main]$ dput mentors fed_0.94a-1_i386.changes
Checking signature on .changes
gpg: Signature made Tue Apr 5 10:07:24 2016 EDT using RSA key ID DE8473B0
Good signature on /home/main/temp/fed_0.94a-1_i386.changes.
Checking signature on .dsc
gpg: Signature made Tue Apr 5 10:07:20 2016 EDT using RSA key ID DE8473B0
Good signature on /home/main/temp/fed_0.94a-1.dsc.
Checksum doesn't match for /home/main/temp/fed_0.94a-1_i386.deb
10:21:01 main]$ debsigs --list fed_0.94a-1_i386.deb
GPG signatures in fed_0.94a-1_i386.deb:
origin: signed by AA74DF0CDE8473B0 on Tue Apr 5 10:20:51 2016
*** NO ATTEMPT HAS BEEN MADE TO VERIFY THE LISTED SIGNATURES ***
not sure what to do next..