diff --git a/software/software/software_controller.py b/software/software/software_controller.py
index 66975fbf..01469995 100644
--- a/software/software/software_controller.py
+++ b/software/software/software_controller.py
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ from software.software_functions import audit_log_info
 from software.software_functions import repo_root_dir
 from software.software_functions import is_deploy_state_in_sync
 from software.software_functions import is_deployment_in_progress
+from software.software_functions import get_release_from_patch
 from software.release_state import ReleaseState
 from software.deploy_host_state import DeployHostState
 from software.deploy_state import DeployState
@@ -1342,11 +1343,9 @@ class PatchController(PatchService):
 
             base_patch_filename = os.path.basename(patch_file)
 
-            # NOTE(bqian) does it make sense to link the release_id to name of the patch?
-            # Get the release_id from the filename
+            # Get the release_id from the patch's metadata
             # and check to see if it's already uploaded
-            # todo(abailey) We should not require the ID as part of the file
-            (release_id, _) = os.path.splitext(base_patch_filename)
+            release_id = get_release_from_patch(patch_file,'id')
 
             release = self.release_collection.get_release_by_id(release_id)
 
diff --git a/software/software/software_functions.py b/software/software/software_functions.py
index 350c147e..190e1349 100644
--- a/software/software/software_functions.py
+++ b/software/software/software_functions.py
@@ -160,19 +160,19 @@ def write_xml_file(top,
         outfile.write(minidom.parseString(rough_xml).toprettyxml(indent="  "))
 
 
-def get_release_from_patch(patchfile):
+def get_release_from_patch(patchfile, key="sw_version"):
     rel = ""
     try:
         metadata_str = subprocess.check_output(['tar', '--to-command=tar -xO', '-xf', patchfile, 'metadata.tar'])
         root = ElementTree.fromstring(metadata_str)
         # Extract release version
-        rel = root.findtext('sw_version')
+        rel = root.findtext(key)
     except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
         LOG.error("Failed to run tar command")
         LOG.error("Command output: %s", e.output)
         raise e
     except Exception as e:
-        print("Failed to parse patch software version")
+        print("Failed to parse patch %s" % key)
         raise e
     return rel