diff --git a/index-v4.yaml b/index-v4.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..868ddee9ed88ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/index-v4.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+%YAML 1.1
+# ROS index file
+# see REP 153: http://ros.org/reps/rep-0153.html
+---
+distributions:
+  groovy:
+    distribution: [groovy/distribution.yaml]
+    distribution_cache: http://repositories.ros.org/rosdistro_cache/groovy-cache.yaml.gz
+    distribution_status: end-of-life
+    distribution_type: ros1
+  hydro:
+    distribution: [hydro/distribution.yaml]
+    distribution_cache: http://repositories.ros.org/rosdistro_cache/hydro-cache.yaml.gz
+    distribution_status: end-of-life
+    distribution_type: ros1
+  indigo:
+    distribution: [indigo/distribution.yaml]
+    distribution_cache: http://repositories.ros.org/rosdistro_cache/indigo-cache.yaml.gz
+    distribution_status: active
+    distribution_type: ros1
+  jade:
+    distribution: [jade/distribution.yaml]
+    distribution_cache: http://repositories.ros.org/rosdistro_cache/jade-cache.yaml.gz
+    distribution_status: end-of-life
+    distribution_type: ros1
+  kinetic:
+    distribution: [kinetic/distribution.yaml]
+    distribution_cache: http://repositories.ros.org/rosdistro_cache/kinetic-cache.yaml.gz
+    distribution_status: active
+    distribution_type: ros1
+  lunar:
+    distribution: [lunar/distribution.yaml]
+    distribution_cache: http://repositories.ros.org/rosdistro_cache/lunar-cache.yaml.gz
+    distribution_status: active
+    distribution_type: ros1
+  melodic:
+    distribution: [melodic/distribution.yaml]
+    distribution_cache: http://repositories.ros.org/rosdistro_cache/melodic-cache.yaml.gz
+    distribution_status: active
+    distribution_type: ros1
+type: index
+version: 4
diff --git a/test/test_indexes_equal.py b/test/test_indexes_equal.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..dd0e3ed0e83bfe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_indexes_equal.py
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+import os
+
+from rosdistro import get_index
+
+from .fold_block import Fold
+
+INDEX_V3_YAML = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(
+    os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)), '..', 'index.yaml'))
+INDEX_V4_YAML = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(
+    os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)), '..', 'index-v4.yaml'))
+
+
+def test_build_caches():
+    with Fold():
+        print('Checking that the index.yaml and index-v4.yaml files contain '
+              'the same information expect additional metadata in the v4.')
+        index_v3 = get_index('file://' + os.path.abspath(INDEX_V3_YAML))
+        index_v4 = get_index('file://' + os.path.abspath(INDEX_V4_YAML))
+
+        dist_names_v3 = list(sorted(index_v3.distributions.keys()))
+        dist_names_v4 = list(sorted(index_v4.distributions.keys()))
+        assert dist_names_v3 == dist_names_v4, \
+            'Different set of distribution names'
+
+        for dist_name in dist_names_v3:
+            dist_v3_data = index_v3.distributions[dist_name]
+            dist_v4_data = index_v4.distributions[dist_name]
+
+            for key, value in dist_v3_data.items():
+                assert key in dist_v4_data, \
+                    "For distribution '%s' index.yaml contains the key '%s' " \
+                    "but v4 doesn't contain it" % (dist_name, key)
+                assert dist_v4_data[key] == value, \
+                    "For distribution '%s' both yaml files contains the key " \
+                    "'%s' but with different values" % (dist_name, key)