diff --git a/checkpkg.in b/checkpkg.in
index 4a46df3..b3894ab 100644
--- a/checkpkg.in
+++ b/checkpkg.in
@@ -29,18 +29,12 @@ STARTDIR=$(pwd)
 TEMPDIR=$(mktemp -d --tmpdir checkpkg-script.XXXX)
 
 for _pkgname in "${pkgname[@]}"; do
-  pkgfile=(${_pkgname}-$(get_full_version $_pkgname)-${CARCH}.pkg.tar?(.?z))
-	if (( ${#pkgfile[*]} != 1 )); then
-		die 'Ambiguous package name: %s\n' "${pkgfile[*]}"
+	target_pkgver=$(get_full_version "$_pkgname")
+	if ! pkgfile=$(find_cached_package "$_pkgname" "$target_pkgver" "$CARCH"); then
+		die 'tarball not found for package: %s' "${_pkgname}-$target_pkgver"
 	fi
 
-	if [[ -f "$STARTDIR/$pkgfile" ]]; then
-		ln -s "$STARTDIR/$pkgfile" "$TEMPDIR/$pkgfile"
-	elif [[ -f "$PKGDEST/$pkgfile" ]]; then
-		ln -s "$PKGDEST/$pkgfile" "$TEMPDIR/$pkgfile"
-	else
-		die "File \"$pkgfile\" doesn't exist"
-	fi
+	ln -s "$pkgfile" "$TEMPDIR"
 
 	pkgurl=$(pacman -Spdd --print-format '%l' --noconfirm "$_pkgname")
 
diff --git a/commitpkg.in b/commitpkg.in
index 8dcbd7c..1095006 100644
--- a/commitpkg.in
+++ b/commitpkg.in
@@ -2,22 +2,6 @@
 
 m4_include(lib/common.sh)
 
-getpkgfile() {
-	case $# in
-		0)
-			error 'No canonical package found!'
-			return 1
-			;;
-		[!1])
-			error 'Failed to canonicalize package name -- multiple packages found:'
-			msg2 '%s' "$@"
-			return 1
-			;;
-	esac
-
-	echo "$1"
-}
-
 # Source makepkg.conf; fail if it is not found
 if [[ -r '/etc/makepkg.conf' ]]; then
 	source '/etc/makepkg.conf'
@@ -99,9 +83,8 @@ for _arch in ${arch[@]}; do
 	for _pkgname in ${pkgname[@]}; do
 		fullver=$(get_full_version $_pkgname)
 
-		if pkgfile=$(shopt -s nullglob;
-				getpkgfile "${PKGDEST+$PKGDEST/}$_pkgname-$fullver-${_arch}".pkg.tar.?z); then
-			if grep -q "packager = Unknown Packager" <(bsdtar -xOqf $pkgfile .PKGINFO); then
+		if pkgfile=$(find_cached_package "$_pkgname" "$_arch" "$fullver"); then
+			if grep -q "packager = Unknown Packager" <(bsdtar -xOqf "$pkgfile" .PKGINFO); then
 				die "PACKAGER was not set when building package"
 			fi
 		fi
@@ -151,8 +134,7 @@ for _arch in ${arch[@]}; do
 	for _pkgname in ${pkgname[@]}; do
 		fullver=$(get_full_version $_pkgname)
 
-		if ! pkgfile=$(shopt -s nullglob;
-				getpkgfile "${PKGDEST+$PKGDEST/}$_pkgname-$fullver-${_arch}".pkg.tar.?z); then
+		if ! pkgfile=$(find_cached_package "$_pkgname" "$fullver" "${_arch}"); then
 			warning "Skipping $_pkgname-$fullver-$_arch: failed to locate package file"
 			skip_arches+=($_arch)
 			continue 2
diff --git a/lib/common.sh b/lib/common.sh
index 3ec26ff..1812cb7 100644
--- a/lib/common.sh
+++ b/lib/common.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 # Avoid any encoding problems
 export LANG=C
 
+shopt -s extglob
+
 # check if messages are to be printed using color
 unset ALL_OFF BOLD BLUE GREEN RED YELLOW
 if [[ -t 2 ]]; then
@@ -154,3 +156,70 @@ slock() {
 		stat_done
 	fi
 }
+
+##
+# usage: pkgver_equal( $pkgver1, $pkgver2 )
+##
+pkgver_equal() {
+	local left right
+
+	if [[ $1 = *-* && $2 = *-* ]]; then
+		# if both versions have a pkgrel, then they must be an exact match
+		[[ $1 = "$2" ]]
+	else
+		# otherwise, trim any pkgrel and compare the bare version.
+		[[ ${1%%-*} = "${2%%-*}" ]]
+	fi
+}
+
+##
+#  usage: find_cached_package( $pkgname, $pkgver, $arch )
+#
+#    $pkgver can be supplied with or without a pkgrel appended.
+#    If not supplied, any pkgrel will be matched.
+##
+find_cached_package() {
+	local searchdirs=("$PWD" "$PKGDEST") results=()
+	local targetname=$1 targetver=$2 targetarch=$3
+	local dir pkg pkgbasename pkgparts name ver rel arch size results
+
+	for dir in "${searchdirs[@]}"; do
+		[[ -d $dir ]] || continue
+
+		for pkg in "$dir"/*.pkg.tar?(.?z); do
+			[[ -f $pkg ]] || continue
+
+			# split apart package filename into parts
+			pkgbasename=${pkg##*/}
+			pkgbasename=${pkgbasename%.pkg.tar?(.?z)}
+
+			arch=${pkgbasename##*-}
+			pkgbasename=${pkgbasename%-"$arch"}
+
+			rel=${pkgbasename##*-}
+			pkgbasename=${pkgbasename%-"$rel"}
+
+			ver=${pkgbasename##*-}
+			name=${pkgbasename%-"$ver"}
+
+			if [[ $targetname = "$name" && $targetarch = "$arch" ]] &&
+					pkgver_equal "$targetver" "$ver-$rel"; then
+				results+=("$pkg")
+			fi
+		done
+	done
+
+	case ${#results[*]} in
+		0)
+			return 1
+			;;
+		1)
+			printf '%s\n' "$results"
+			return 0
+			;;
+		*)
+			error 'Multiple packages found:'
+			printf '\t%s\n' "${results[@]}"
+			return 1
+	esac
+}