diff --git a/xCAT-buildkit/bin/buildkit b/xCAT-buildkit/bin/buildkit
index c10238649..30e6f5d51 100755
--- a/xCAT-buildkit/bin/buildkit
+++ b/xCAT-buildkit/bin/buildkit
@@ -333,12 +333,24 @@ if ($::HELP)
     exit(0);
 }
 
+my $debianflag = 0;
+my $tempstring = xCAT::BuildKitUtils->osver();
+if ( $tempstring =~ /debian/ || $tempstring =~ /ubuntu/ ){
+    $debianflag = 1;
+}
+
 # display the version statement if -v or --version is specified
 if ($::VERSION)
 {
-    if ( system("rpm -q --qf \"%{NAME}:  %{VERSION}-%{RELEASE} \n\" xCAT-buildkit") ) {
+    my $versioncmd = "rpm -q --qf \"%{NAME}:  %{VERSION}-%{RELEASE} \n\" xCAT-buildkit";
+    my $message = "Error quering xCAT-buildkit rpm.  Version info is not available. \n";
+    if ( $debianflag ){
+        $versioncmd = "dpkg-query --show -f='\${PackageSpec}: \${Version}\n' xcat-buildkit";
+        $message = "Error quering xcat-buildkit pakcage. Version info is not available. \n";
+    }
+    if ( system($versioncmd) ) {
         # non-zero return from system call
-        print "Error quering xCAT-buildkit rpm.  Version info is not available. \n";
+        print $message;
         exit 1;
      }        
     exit 0;
@@ -350,12 +362,6 @@ if ( ! $arg ) {
    exit (0);
 }
 
-my $debianflag = 0;
-my $tempstring = xCAT::BuildKitUtils->osver();
-if ( $tempstring =~ /debian/ || $tempstring =~ /ubuntu/ ){
-    $debianflag = 1;
-}
-
 while ($arg) {
     my $command = $arg;
     $command =~ tr/A-Z/a-z/;   # convert to lowercase
@@ -2081,7 +2087,18 @@ sub build_kitcomp_debian{
     my $comp = shift;
     my %repo;
     my $debbuilddir = $::workdir."/debbuild/".$comp->{kitcompname};
+    my $kcmetaname = comppkgname($comp);
     
+    #If this kitcomponent has external non-native pkgs, 
+    #skip the meta package build
+    if ( defined($::NON_NATIVE_PKGS) &&
+         defined($::NON_NATIVE_PKGS->{$comp->{kitcompname}}) &&
+        $::NON_NATIVE_PKGS->{$comp->{kitcompname}} ) {
+        if ($::VERBOSE) {
+           print "Kit component $comp->{kitcompname} has external non-native packages.  Skipping rpm build for $kcmetaname. \n";
+        }
+        return 0;
+    }
     # find the kitrepo hash for this component
     foreach my $kr (@{$::bldkit_config->{kitrepo}{entries}}) {
         if ($comp->{kitrepoid} eq $kr->{kitrepoid}) { 
@@ -2099,19 +2116,14 @@ sub build_kitcomp_debian{
     #Create debian directory for this kit component
     if ( &gen_kitcomp_debdir($comp,\%repo) ) { return 1; }
 
-    my $kcmetaname = comppkgname($comp);
-
     if (defined($comp->{non_native_pkgs}) ) {
         my $sourcedir = $::workdir."/source_packages";
 
-        if ($comp->{non_native_pkgs} =~ /EXTERNALPKGS/) {
-            $::NON_NATIVE_PKGS->{$comp->{kitcompname}} = 1;
-        }
         foreach my $pkgfile (split(/,/, $comp->{non_native_pkgs})) {
             my $pkg_file;
             my ($key,$value) = split /:/,$pkgfile;
             if ("$key" =~ /EXTERNALPKGS/) {
-                next;
+                $pkg_file = $value;
             } else {
                 $pkg_file = $key;
             }
@@ -2419,7 +2431,13 @@ sub create_kitconf
     my @lines;
     my $li=0;
     $lines[$li++] = "# Kit Configuration File for $kitname generated by buildkit\n";
-    my $xCAT_buildkit_version = `rpm -q --qf \"%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}\" xCAT-buildkit`;
+    my $xCAT_buildkit_version = '';
+    if ( $debianflag ){
+        $xCAT_buildkit_version = `dpkg-query --show -f='\${Version}' xcat-buildkit`;
+    }
+    else{
+        $xCAT_buildkit_version = `rpm -q --qf \"%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}\" xCAT-buildkit`;
+    }
     $lines[$li++] = "# kit_built_by_xCAT_version:  $xCAT_buildkit_version \n";
     $lines[$li++] = "# kit_built_on:  ".localtime()."\n"; 
     foreach my $s ('kit','kitrepo','kitcomponent','EXTERNALPKG', 'NONNATIVEPKGS') {
@@ -2614,11 +2632,6 @@ sub create_builddir
             print "Error copying buildkit config file $::full_buildkit_conf to build directory $::deploy_dir/build_input \n";
             return 1;
         }
-        if ( system("cp -fpR $::full_buildkit_conf $::deploy_dir/build_input") ) {
-            # non-zero return from system call
-            print "Error copying buildkit config file $::full_buildkit_conf to build directory $::deploy_dir/build_input \n";
-            return 1;
-        }
     }
 
     return 0;
@@ -2658,24 +2671,6 @@ sub create_PARTIAL_builddir
         }
     }        
  
-    # Copy the kitcomponent meta rpm spec if there is external non_native_pkgs.
-    if ( $debianflag ) {
-        foreach my $comp (keys %{$::NON_NATIVE_PKGS}) {
-            my $kitrepo;
-            foreach my $kc (@{$::bldkit_config->{kitcomponent}{entries}}) {
-                if ($comp eq $kc->{kitcompname}) {
-                     $kitrepo = $kc->{kitreponame}
-                }
-            }
-            mkpath("$::deploy_dir/tmp/");
-            my $cmd = "cp -fRP $::workdir/debbuild/$comp $::deploy_dir/tmp/$comp";
-            if ( system("$cmd") ) {
-                print "Error copying kitcomponent meta debian build file $::workdir/debbuild/$comp to build directory $::deploy_dir \n";
-                return 1;
-            }
-        }
-    }
-    
     # Copy over the original buildkit.conf file and input files
     # to help make addpkgs processing easier later
     mkpath("$::deploy_dir/build_input/");
@@ -3330,7 +3325,14 @@ sub NEW_kit_addpkgs
     $::HAVE_NON_NATIVE_PKGS = '';
     $::NON_NATIVE_PKGS = {};
     foreach my $kc (@{$::bldkit_config->{kitcomponent}{entries}}) {
-        if (&build_kitcomp($kc )) {
+        my $rc=0;
+        if ( $debianflag ){
+            $rc = &build_kitcomp_debian($kc);
+        }
+        else{
+            $rc = &build_kitcomp($kc);
+        }
+        if ( $rc ) {
             print "Error building kitcomponent metapackage for $kc->{basename} \n";
             return 1;
         }
@@ -3344,7 +3346,14 @@ sub NEW_kit_addpkgs
               ( $kr->{osmajorversion} eq '5') ) {
               $cr_opts = '-s md5';
           }
-          if ( system("createrepo $cr_opts $repodir") ) {
+          my $repocmd = "";
+          if ( $debianflag ){
+              $repocmd = "cd $repodir;dpkg-scanpackages . > Packages";
+          }
+          else{
+              $repocmd = "createrepo $cr_opts $repodir";
+          }
+          if ( system( $repocmd ) ) {
             print "Error building the repository meta-data with the createrepo command \n";
             return 1;
           }