diff --git a/common/protob/pb2py b/common/protob/pb2py
index 4bb14f3bf..48d08e324 100755
--- a/common/protob/pb2py
+++ b/common/protob/pb2py
@@ -333,8 +333,6 @@ class Descriptor:
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)
-
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
     # fmt: off
     parser.add_argument("proto", nargs="+", help="Protobuf definition files")
@@ -343,9 +341,13 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     parser.add_argument("-l", "--no-init-py", action="store_true", help="Do not generate __init__.py with list of modules")
     parser.add_argument("--message-type", default="MessageType", help="Name of enum with message IDs")
     parser.add_argument("-I", "--protoc-include", action="append", help="protoc include path")
+    parser.add_argument("-v", "--verbose", action="store_true", help="Print debug messages")
     # fmt: on
     args = parser.parse_args()
 
+    if args.verbose:
+        logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)
+
     protoc_includes = args.protoc_include or (os.environ.get("PROTOC_INCLUDE"),)
     descriptor_proto = protoc(args.proto, protoc_includes)
     descriptor = Descriptor(descriptor_proto, args.message_type, args.protobuf_module)
diff --git a/core/tools/build_protobuf b/core/tools/build_protobuf
deleted file mode 100755
index d88664ca7..000000000
--- a/core/tools/build_protobuf
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-set -e
-cd $(dirname $0)
-
-rm -f ../src/trezor/messages/[A-Z]*.py
-../vendor/trezor-common/protob/pb2py \
-    --no-init-py \
-    -o ../src/trezor/messages \
-    ../vendor/trezor-common/protob/messages.proto \
-    ../vendor/trezor-common/protob/messages-bitcoin.proto \
-    ../vendor/trezor-common/protob/messages-cardano.proto \
-    ../vendor/trezor-common/protob/messages-common.proto \
-    ../vendor/trezor-common/protob/messages-crypto.proto \
-    ../vendor/trezor-common/protob/messages-debug.proto \
-    ../vendor/trezor-common/protob/messages-eos.proto \
-    ../vendor/trezor-common/protob/messages-ethereum.proto \
-    ../vendor/trezor-common/protob/messages-lisk.proto \
-    ../vendor/trezor-common/protob/messages-management.proto \
-    ../vendor/trezor-common/protob/messages-monero.proto \
-    ../vendor/trezor-common/protob/messages-nem.proto \
-    ../vendor/trezor-common/protob/messages-ripple.proto \
-    ../vendor/trezor-common/protob/messages-stellar.proto \
-    ../vendor/trezor-common/protob/messages-tezos.proto
diff --git a/tools/build_protobuf b/tools/build_protobuf
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..c00706380
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/build_protobuf
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+cd $(dirname $0)/..
+
+PROTOB=common/protob
+
+CORE_PROTOBUF_SOURCES="\
+    $PROTOB/messages.proto \
+    $PROTOB/messages-bitcoin.proto \
+    $PROTOB/messages-cardano.proto \
+    $PROTOB/messages-common.proto \
+    $PROTOB/messages-crypto.proto \
+    $PROTOB/messages-debug.proto \
+    $PROTOB/messages-eos.proto \
+    $PROTOB/messages-ethereum.proto \
+    $PROTOB/messages-lisk.proto \
+    $PROTOB/messages-management.proto \
+    $PROTOB/messages-monero.proto \
+    $PROTOB/messages-nem.proto \
+    $PROTOB/messages-ripple.proto \
+    $PROTOB/messages-stellar.proto \
+    $PROTOB/messages-tezos.proto \
+"
+
+PYTHON_PROTOBUF_SOURCES=$PROTOB/*.proto
+
+RETURN=0
+
+do_rebuild() {
+    # rebuild protobuf in specified directory
+    local DESTDIR="$1"
+    shift
+    local SOURCES="$1"
+    shift
+
+    mkdir -p "$DESTDIR"
+    rm -f "$DESTDIR"/[A-Z]*.py
+
+    # note $SOURCES is unquoted - we want wildcard expansion and multiple args
+    $PROTOB/pb2py "$@" -o "$DESTDIR" $SOURCES
+}
+
+do_check() {
+    # rebuild protobuf in tmpdir and check result against specified directory
+    local TMPDIR=$(mktemp -d proto-check.XXXXXX)
+    local DESTDIR="$1"
+    shift
+
+    cp -rT "$DESTDIR" "$TMPDIR"
+    do_rebuild "$TMPDIR" "$@"
+    DIFF=$(diff -ur "$DESTDIR" "$TMPDIR")
+    rm -r "$TMPDIR"
+    if [ -n "$DIFF" ]; then
+        echo "$DIFF"
+        RETURN=1
+    fi
+}
+
+if [ "$1" == "--check" ]; then
+    func=do_check
+else
+    func=do_rebuild
+fi
+
+$func core/src/trezor/messages "$CORE_PROTOBUF_SOURCES" --no-init-py
+$func python/trezorlib/messages "$PYTHON_PROTOBUF_SOURCES" -P ..protobuf
+
+exit $RETURN