diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/profiles/coreos/base/package.use b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/profiles/coreos/base/package.use
index 7b1884c227..baafd631fe 100644
--- a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/profiles/coreos/base/package.use
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/profiles/coreos/base/package.use
@@ -57,3 +57,6 @@ net-misc/openssh -hpn
 
 # xz and lzo are required to run grub tests
 sys-fs/squashfs-tools lzo xz
+
+# make the kernel version discoverable via the traditional gentoo symlink
+sys-kernel/coreos-sources symlink
diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-kernel/coreos-sources/Manifest b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-kernel/coreos-sources/Manifest
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6681ac531b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-kernel/coreos-sources/Manifest
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+DIST linux-3.17.tar.xz 80333152 SHA256 f5153ec93c5fcd41b247950e6a9bcbc63fa87beafd112c133a622439a0f76251 SHA512 29c99764e371f7005dbbe2bbe4458b4deeae5297da7e5b719b0f29f6f018629338b608369162ae6bd76bec4d8719cf491257ac57fdd5277cce8941b7f90246a0 WHIRLPOOL 4b0ba9d997f28a317991287160c91c4e4f2245d7e08c7cb9691f67c3838bddb3ab8048b01e841e6659eceb94a269b6bde32f4ca521d999593d0e9473c8559b46
+DIST patch-3.17.6.xz 249204 SHA256 30d8e0da16ac7cc8be13cd6da72ddc487e8c24fb662caf69da7f6d375fdc1aab SHA512 a6e6dd8224355c8f20843f6ee923e27a1c4794268cce212c9dc9a431d0376da9887161d2924a447007650bf98822a08da4c0f1b76ec8d2bf7c2a1f81b5908d9e WHIRLPOOL 0eb7262570f7a85da2ce7ab4686b9a3f9c90e93d00c66a41b537d4694ea5238bc769675ca81fe19e0e5b35203dba2cf1a93dc7c0677fe39215941f685949e29c
diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-kernel/coreos-sources/coreos-sources-3.17.6.ebuild b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-kernel/coreos-sources/coreos-sources-3.17.6.ebuild
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..358a9fd69d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-kernel/coreos-sources/coreos-sources-3.17.6.ebuild
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Copyright 2014 CoreOS, Inc.
+# Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
+
+EAPI="5"
+K_NOUSENAME="yes"
+K_NOSETEXTRAVERSION="yes"
+ETYPE="sources"
+inherit kernel-2
+detect_version
+
+DESCRIPTION="Full sources for the Linux kernel"
+HOMEPAGE="http://www.kernel.org"
+SRC_URI="${KERNEL_URI}"
+
+KEYWORDS="amd64"
+IUSE=""
+
+# This ebuild is essentially equivalent to the upstream vanilla-sources
+DEPEND="!sys-kernel/vanilla-sources:${SLOT}"