diff --git a/build_image.sh b/build_image.sh
index 6c6f9bc2be..982c6035e8 100755
--- a/build_image.sh
+++ b/build_image.sh
@@ -142,15 +142,16 @@ fi
 
 # -- Turn root file system into bootable image --
 
-# Setup extlinux configuration.
-# TODO: For some reason the /dev/disk/by-uuid is not being generated by udev
-# in the initramfs. When we figure that out, switch to root=UUID=$UUID.
-cat <<EOF | sudo dd of="$ROOT_FS_DIR"/boot/extlinux.conf
+if [ "$FLAGS_arch" = "x86" ]; then
+  # Setup extlinux configuration.
+  # TODO: For some reason the /dev/disk/by-uuid is not being generated by udev
+  # in the initramfs. When we figure that out, switch to root=UUID=$UUID.
+  cat <<EOF | sudo dd of="$ROOT_FS_DIR"/boot/extlinux.conf
 DEFAULT chromeos-usb
 PROMPT 0
 TIMEOUT 0
 
-label chromeos-usb
+  label chromeos-usb
   menu label chromeos-usb
   kernel vmlinuz
   append quiet console=tty2 initrd=initrd.img init=/sbin/init boot=local rootwait root=LABEL=$DISK_LABEL ro noresume noswap i915.modeset=1 loglevel=1
@@ -164,22 +165,28 @@ EOF
 # Make partition bootable and label it.
 sudo "$SCRIPTS_DIR/extlinux.sh" -z --install "${ROOT_FS_DIR}/boot"
 
+fi  # --arch=x86
+
 cleanup_rootfs_loop
 
+if [ "$FLAGS_arch" = "x86" ]; then
+
 # Create a master boot record.
 # Start with the syslinux master boot record. We need to zero-pad to
 # fill out a 512-byte sector size.
-SYSLINUX_MBR="/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin"
-dd if="$SYSLINUX_MBR" of="$MBR_IMG" bs=512 count=1 conv=sync
-# Create a partition table in the MBR.
-NUM_SECTORS=$((`stat --format="%s" "$ROOT_FS_IMG"` / 512))
-sudo sfdisk -H64 -S32 -uS -f "$MBR_IMG" <<EOF
+  SYSLINUX_MBR="/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin"
+  dd if="$SYSLINUX_MBR" of="$MBR_IMG" bs=512 count=1 conv=sync
+  # Create a partition table in the MBR.
+  NUM_SECTORS=$((`stat --format="%s" "$ROOT_FS_IMG"` / 512))
+  sudo sfdisk -H64 -S32 -uS -f "$MBR_IMG" <<EOF
 ,$NUM_SECTORS,L,-,
 ,$NUM_SECTORS,S,-,
 ,$NUM_SECTORS,L,*,
 ;
 EOF
 
+fi  # --arch=x86
+
 OUTSIDE_OUTPUT_DIR="${EXTERNAL_TRUNK_PATH}/src/build/images/${IMAGE_SUBDIR}"
 echo "Done.  Image created in ${OUTPUT_DIR}"
 echo "To copy to USB keyfob, outside the chroot, do something like:"
diff --git a/customize_rootfs.sh b/customize_rootfs.sh
index d8da12e67c..e6946febcf 100755
--- a/customize_rootfs.sh
+++ b/customize_rootfs.sh
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 assert_inside_chroot
 
 # Flags
-DEFINE_string target "x86" \
+DEFINE_string arch "x86" \
   "The target architecture to build for. One of { x86, arm }."
 DEFINE_string root ""      \
   "The root file system to customize."
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ sudo chmod 0755 "$ROOT_FS_DIR"/mnt/stateful_partition
 # installed all of the packages.
 TMP_STATIC=$(mktemp -d)
 sudo cp -r "${SRC_ROOT}/rootfs_static_data/common/." "$TMP_STATIC"
-# TODO: Copy additional target-platform-specific subdirectories.
+# TODO: Copy additional arch-platform-specific subdirectories.
 sudo chmod -R a+rX "$TMP_STATIC/."
 sudo cp -r "$TMP_STATIC/." "$ROOT_FS_DIR"
 sudo rm -rf "$TMP_STATIC"
diff --git a/install_packages.sh b/install_packages.sh
index 336a18a611..fd2afda7cc 100755
--- a/install_packages.sh
+++ b/install_packages.sh
@@ -257,11 +257,17 @@ PACKAGE_LISTS=$(echo "$FLAGS_package_list" | sed -e 's/,/ /g')
 PKG_LIST_ARCH="$FLAGS_arch"
 if [ "$PKG_LIST_ARCH" = "x86" ]; then
   PKG_LIST_ARCH="i386"
+  FORCE_NO_SCRIPTS=""
+else
+  # For armel we forcefully disable all maintainer scripts.
+  # TODO: Remove this when everything is whitelisted for all build variants.
+  FORCE_NO_SCRIPTS="-o=DPkg::options::=--nodpkg_fallback"
 fi
 for p in $PACKAGE_LISTS; do
   COMPONENTS=$(filter_pkgs "$p" "$PKG_LIST_ARCH")
   sudo APT_CONFIG="$APT_CONFIG" DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive \
-       ARCH="$FLAGS_arch" apt-get --force-yes install $COMPONENTS
+    ARCH="$FLAGS_arch" \
+    apt-get $FORCE_NO_SCRIPTS --force-yes install $COMPONENTS
 done
 
 # Create kernel installation configuration to suppress warnings,
@@ -278,8 +284,20 @@ warn_initrd = no
 EOF
 
 # Install the kernel.
-sudo APT_CONFIG="$APT_CONFIG" DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive ARCH="$FLAGS_arch"\
-  apt-get --force-yes install "linux-image-${KERNEL_VERSION}"
+# TODO: Support for armel kernels.
+if [ "$FLAGS_arch" = "x86" ]; then
+  sudo APT_CONFIG="$APT_CONFIG" DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive ARCH="$FLAGS_arch"\
+    apt-get --force-yes install "linux-image-${KERNEL_VERSION}"
+fi
+
+# Install optionally present rootfs static data. This can be used to blast
+# custom firmware, kernel modules, etc. onto the image.
+# TODO: Remove this hack at some point.
+LOCAL_ASSETS="${FLAGS_build_root}/${FLAGS_arch}/local_assets"
+OPTIONAL_ROOTFS_DATA="${LOCAL_ASSETS}/rootfs_data.tgz"
+if [ -f "${OPTIONAL_ROOTFS_DATA}" ]; then
+  sudo tar -zxvf "${OPTIONAL_ROOTFS_DATA}" -C "${ROOT_FS_DIR}"
+fi
 
 # List all packages installed so far, since these are what the local
 # repository needs to contain.