diff -ur sbuild-0.57.0/bin/sbuild sbuild-0.57.0-tabbott/bin/sbuild
--- sbuild-0.57.0/bin/sbuild	2008-01-01 06:39:56.000000000 -0500
+++ sbuild-0.57.0-tabbott/bin/sbuild	2008-03-22 20:25:45.000000000 -0400
@@ -131,6 +131,7 @@
 		       "binNMU=i" => \$main::binNMUver,
 		       "database=s" => \$main::database,
 		       "D|debug+" => \$conf::debug,
+		       "apt-update" => \$conf::apt_update,
 		       "d|dist=s" => sub {
 			   $main::distribution = $_[1];
 			   $main::distribution = "oldstable"
@@ -276,6 +277,19 @@
     $main::arch = chroot_arch();
 
 
+    if ($conf::apt_update) {
+	if (!open(PIPE, Sbuild::Chroot::get_apt_command("$conf::apt_get", "-q update", "root", 1) . " 2>&1 |")) {
+	    print PLOG "Can't open pipe to apt-get: $!\n";
+	    return 0;
+	}
+	while(<PIPE>) {
+	    print PLOG;
+	    print STDERR;
+	}
+	close(PIPE);
+	print PLOG "apt-get update failed\n" if $?;
+    }
+    
     $main::pkg_fail_stage = "fetch-src";
     my @files_to_rm = fetch_source_files( \$dscfile,
 					  $dir, $pkg, $version, $download);
@@ -372,7 +386,7 @@
 	}
     } else {
 	my %entries = ();
-	my $retried = 0;
+	my $retried = $conf::apt_update;
       retry:
 	print PLOG "Checking available source versions...\n";
 	my $command = get_apt_command("$conf::apt_cache", "-q showsrc $pkg", $main::username, 0);
diff -ur sbuild-0.57.0/lib/Sbuild/Conf.pm sbuild-0.57.0-tabbott/lib/Sbuild/Conf.pm
--- sbuild-0.57.0/lib/Sbuild/Conf.pm	2008-01-01 06:39:56.000000000 -0500
+++ sbuild-0.57.0-tabbott/lib/Sbuild/Conf.pm	2008-03-22 20:30:20.000000000 -0400
@@ -43,7 +43,8 @@
 		 $srcdep_lock_wait @ignore_watches_no_build_deps
 		 $build_dir $sbuild_mode $debug $force_orig_source
 		 %individual_stalled_pkg_timeout $path
-		 $maintainer_name $uploader_name %watches $key_id); }
+		 $maintainer_name $uploader_name %watches $key_id
+		 $apt_update); }
 
 # Originally from the main namespace.
 (our $HOME = $ENV{'HOME'})
@@ -98,6 +99,7 @@
 our $maintainer_name;
 our $uploader_name;
 our $key_id;
+our $apt_update = 0;
 our %alternatives = ("info-browser"		=> "info",
 		     "httpd"			=> "apache",
 		     "postscript-viewer"	=> "ghostview",
diff -ur sbuild-0.57.0/man/sbuild.1.in sbuild-0.57.0-tabbott/man/sbuild.1.in
--- sbuild-0.57.0/man/sbuild.1.in	2008-01-01 06:39:56.000000000 -0500
+++ sbuild-0.57.0-tabbott/man/sbuild.1.in	2008-03-22 20:31:10.000000000 -0400
@@ -112,6 +112,9 @@
 .IR \-D , "\-\-debug"
 Enable debug output.
 .TP
+.IR "\-\-apt\-update"
+Run apt-get update in the chroot before executing the build.
+.TP
 .IR \-m , "\-\-maintainer=<maintainer>"
 Passed to dpkg\-genchanges and is used to set the Maintainer: field in
 the .changes file(s).