diff --git a/tests/dump_internal_metadata_format.py b/tests/dump_internal_metadata_format.py
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..4dc95890
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/dump_internal_metadata_format.py
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+#
+# This is for running manual tests when changing the metadata format.
+# The idea is to test changes using all of the files in
+# fdroiddata.git.  To run it, do:
+#
+#   cd fdroidserver/tests
+#   cp dump_internal_metadata_format.py dump.py # since this isn't in old commits
+#   git checkout 0.7.0  # or any old commit of your choosing
+#   cd ../../fdroiddata
+#   ../fdroidserver/tests/dump.py
+#   mv metadata/dump metadata/dump_0.7.0
+#   cd ../fdroidserver
+#   git checkout master
+#   cd ../fdroiddata
+#   ../fdroidserver/tests/dump.py
+#   meld metadata/dump_0.7.0 metadata/dump_0.7.0-179-ge85486a/
+
+import git
+import inspect
+import optparse
+import os
+import sys
+import yaml
+
+localmodule = os.path.realpath(
+    os.path.join(os.path.dirname(inspect.getfile(inspect.currentframe())), '..'))
+if localmodule not in sys.path:
+    sys.path.insert(0, localmodule)
+
+import fdroidserver.common  # noqa
+import fdroidserver.metadata  # noqa
+
+
+def _build_yaml_representer(dumper, data):
+    '''Creates a YAML representation of a Build instance'''
+    if hasattr(data, 'append_flag'):
+        # for 0.7.0 and earlier, before https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroidserver/merge_requests/210
+        del(data._modified)
+        readdict = data.__dict__
+    else:
+        readdict = data
+
+    # these key names were all renamed in
+    # https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroidserver/merge_requests/210
+    output = dict()
+    for k, v in readdict.items():
+        if k == 'vercode':
+            output['versionCode'] = v
+        elif k == 'version':
+            output['versionName'] = v
+        elif k == 'update':
+            output['androidupdate'] = v
+        else:
+            output[k] = v
+
+    return dumper.represent_dict(output)
+
+
+parser = optparse.OptionParser()
+parser.add_option("-v", "--verbose", action="store_true", default=False,
+                  help="Spew out even more information than normal")
+(fdroidserver.common.options, args) = parser.parse_args(['--verbose'])
+
+os.chdir('/home/hans/code/fdroid/fdroiddata')
+# these need to be set to prevent code running on None, only
+# 'accepted_formats' is actually used in metadata.py
+config = dict()
+config['sdk_path'] = '/opt/android-sdk'
+config['ndk_paths'] = dict()
+config['accepted_formats'] = ['txt']
+fdroidserver.common.config = config
+
+repo = git.Repo(localmodule)
+savedir = os.path.join('metadata', 'dump_' + repo.git.describe())
+if not os.path.isdir(savedir):
+    os.mkdir(savedir)
+
+apps = fdroidserver.metadata.read_metadata(xref=True)
+for appid, app in apps.items():
+    savepath = os.path.join(savedir, appid + '.yaml')
+    print('dumping', savepath)
+    if hasattr(app, 'attr_to_field'):
+        # for 0.7.0 and earlier, before https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroidserver/merge_requests/210
+        app.__dict__['lastUpdated'] = app.__dict__['lastupdated']
+        del(app.__dict__['lastupdated'])
+        del(app._modified)
+        frommeta = dict(app.__dict__)
+    else:
+        frommeta = dict(app)
+
+    with open(savepath, 'w') as f:
+        yaml.add_representer(fdroidserver.metadata.Build, _build_yaml_representer)
+        yaml.dump(frommeta, f, default_flow_style=False)
+
+    # if appid == 'at.tomtasche.reader':
+    #     import pprint
+    #     pprint.pprint(app)
+    #     sys.exit(1)