diff --git a/lib/local-storage.js b/lib/local-storage.js
index 3b70ed7d2..230a42403 100644
--- a/lib/local-storage.js
+++ b/lib/local-storage.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 var fs = require('fs')
   , semver = require('semver')
   , Path = require('path')
+  , crypto = require('crypto')
   , fs_storage = require('./local-fs')
   , UError = require('./error').UserError
   , utils = require('./utils')
@@ -30,8 +31,8 @@ function get_boilerplate(name) {
 		'dist-tags': {},
 
 		// our own object
-		// type: "filename"->"metadata"
 		'_distfiles': {},
+		'_attachments': {},
 	};
 }
 
@@ -82,7 +83,8 @@ Storage.prototype._read_create_package = function(name, callback) {
 				return callback(self._internal_error(err, file, 'error reading'))
 			}
 		}
-		callback(null, data);
+		self._normalize_package(data)
+		callback(null, data)
 	});
 }
 
@@ -132,7 +134,7 @@ Storage.prototype.update_versions = function(name, newdata, callback) {
 		}
 		
 		if (change) {
-			self.storage.write_json(name + '/' + info_file, data, callback);
+			self._write_package(name, data, callback)
 		} else {
 			callback();
 		}
@@ -263,7 +265,8 @@ Storage.prototype.get_package = function(name, callback) {
 				return callback(self._internal_error(err, file, 'error reading'))
 			}
 		}
-		callback.apply(null, arguments)
+		self._normalize_package(result)
+		callback(err, result)
 	})
 }
 
@@ -318,13 +321,31 @@ Storage.prototype.update_package = function(name, updateFn, _callback) {
 			}
 		}
 
+		self._normalize_package(json)
 		updateFn(json, function(err) {
 			if (err) return callback(err)
 
-			self.storage.write_json(name + '/' + info_file, json, callback)
+			self._write_package(name, json, callback)
 		})
 	})
 }
 
+Storage.prototype._normalize_package = function(pkg) {
+	['versions', 'dist-tags', '_distfiles', '_attachments'].forEach(function(key) {
+		if (typeof(pkg[key]) != 'object' || pkg[key] == null) pkg[key] = {}
+	});
+	if (typeof(pkg._rev) !== 'string') pkg._rev = '0-0000000000000000'
+}
+
+Storage.prototype._write_package = function(name, json, callback) {
+
+	// calculate revision a la couchdb
+	if (typeof(json._rev) !== 'string') json._rev = '0-0000000000000000'
+	var rev = json._rev.split('-')
+	json._rev = ((+rev[0] || 0) + 1) + '-' + crypto.pseudoRandomBytes(16).toString('hex')
+
+	this.storage.write_json(name + '/' + info_file, json, callback)
+}
+
 module.exports = Storage;
 
diff --git a/lib/storage.js b/lib/storage.js
index 94df5b3f2..7ba9306a1 100644
--- a/lib/storage.js
+++ b/lib/storage.js
@@ -342,7 +342,8 @@ Storage.prototype.get_package = function(name, callback) {
 
 			if (up === self.local) {
 				// file exists in local repo
-				exists = true;
+				exists = true
+				result._rev = up_res._rev
 			}
 
 			try {