diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bf915c4d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+#
+# Adding .gitignore files because debian builds are being done in the xcat-core
+# directory, causing issues when switching branches. 
+#
+*debhelper.log
+*substvars
+*man1
+*man3
+*man5
+*man7
+*man8
+*.tmp
diff --git a/build-ubunturepo b/build-ubunturepo
index 310892777..306844919 100755
--- a/build-ubunturepo
+++ b/build-ubunturepo
@@ -476,6 +476,10 @@ __EOF__
     chgrp root $dep_tar_name
     chmod g+w $dep_tar_name
 
+    # remove the changes to changelog since the builds are occuring in xcat-core, will prevent
+    # switching from branch to branch without a new clone of the repository
+    find ./ -name "changelog" -print | xargs git checkout
+
     if [ -n "$UP" ] && [ "$UP" == 0 ];then
         echo "No need to upload the dep packages"
         cd $old_pwd
diff --git a/perl-xCAT/debian/perl-xcat.substvars b/perl-xCAT/debian/perl-xcat.substvars
index cd2d004a5..e4d74a396 100644
--- a/perl-xCAT/debian/perl-xcat.substvars
+++ b/perl-xCAT/debian/perl-xcat.substvars
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
+misc:Depends=
 perl:Depends=perl