diff --git a/debian/script-targz b/debian/script-targz
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..708d5cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/script-targz
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -e
+
+if [ "$1" = '--upstream-version' ]; then
+    new_version="$2"
+else
+    printf "Missing --upstream-version argument" 1>&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+DEB_SOURCE="$(dpkg-parsechangelog -SSource)"
+
+default_branch="$(git remote show https://github.com/aircrack-ng/rtl8188eus.git | grep 'HEAD' | sed 's/.*: v//')"
+
+version="$(echo ${new_version} | sed 's/~git.*//')"
+
+# fails if the upstream default branch has changed and is no longer the
+# version mentioned in debian/watch
+if [ "${default_branch}" != "${version}" ]; then
+    exit 1
+fi
diff --git a/debian/watch b/debian/watch
index 7b5b555..4728bc0 100644
--- a/debian/watch
+++ b/debian/watch
@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
 version=4
-opts="filenamemangle=s%(?:.*?)?v?(\d[\d.]*)\.tar\.gz%realtek-rtl8188eus-dkms-$1.tar.gz%" \
-   https://github.com/aircrack-ng/rtl8188eus/tags \
-   (?:.*?/)?v?(\d[\d.]*)\.tar\.gz debian uupdate
+opts="mode=git, pretty=5.3.9~git%cd.%h, pgpmode=none" \
+  https://github.com/aircrack-ng/rtl8188eus.git \
+  HEAD debian debian/script-targz
+
+# Use the following when upstream starts to tag releases:
+#opts="filenamemangle=s%(?:.*?)?v?(\d[\d.]*)\.tar\.gz%realtek-rtl8188eus-dkms-$1.tar.gz%" \
+#   https://github.com/aircrack-ng/rtl8188eus/tags \
+#   (?:.*?/)?v?(\d[\d.]*)\.tar\.gz debian uupdate