diff --git a/gwkoji/packager.py b/gwkoji/packager.py
index 19ac65b0f4fd9dc6d605d94b4d6d71e220c206e6..e8af0f13671dd854eb94600bb7c0bbea568c758e 100755
--- a/gwkoji/packager.py
+++ b/gwkoji/packager.py
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ import tempfile
 from . import (
     __version__,
     koji,
+    rpm,
 )
 from .build import build_src_rpm
 from .utils import source_type
@@ -142,17 +143,6 @@ def parse_options():
     return args
 
 
-# method to get the package name from the source
-def get_package_name_from_source_rpm(source):
-    try:
-        cmd = ['rpm', '--queryformat', '%{NAME}', '-qp', source]
-        pkg_name = subprocess.check_output(cmd)
-    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
-        print('Unable to determine package name, %s' % e)
-        sys.exit(1)
-    return pkg_name.decode()
-
-
 #
 # main program
 #
@@ -187,10 +177,14 @@ def main():
         logger.info("temporary src.rpm generated as '{0}'".format(args.source))
 
     # get pkg name from source rpm
-    if args.source_type != "git":
-        pkg_name = get_package_name_from_source_rpm(args.source)
-        logger.info('package name = %s' % pkg_name)
-    # how do we determine this when source is from git?
+    try:
+        if args.source_type != "git":
+            pkg_name = rpm.get_package_name_from_source_rpm(args.source)
+            logger.info('package name = %s' % pkg_name)
+        # how do we determine this when source is from git?
+    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
+        logger.critical("unable to determine package name, %s" % e)
+        raise
 
     # check that we can authenticate to koji
     try:
diff --git a/gwkoji/rpm.py b/gwkoji/rpm.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..be22c3ed79b50bf8f064f9bf70c541c429766de0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gwkoji/rpm.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+# Copyright(C) 2019 Adam Mercer <adam.mercer@ligo.org>
+#
+# This file is part of gwkoji.
+#
+# gwkoji is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+"""Interactions with rpm
+"""
+
+import subprocess
+
+
+# method to get the package name from the source
+def get_package_name_from_source_rpm(source):
+    cmd = ['rpm', '--queryformat', '%{NAME}', '-qp', source]
+    return subprocess.check_output(cmd).decode()