diff --git a/build-ubunturepo b/build-ubunturepo
index fea44509b..a2bb046e3 100755
--- a/build-ubunturepo
+++ b/build-ubunturepo
@@ -194,7 +194,8 @@ then
         if [ ! -d ../../$package_dir_name ];then
             mkdir -p "../../$package_dir_name"
         fi
-        packages="xCAT-client xCAT-genesis-scripts perl-xCAT xCAT-server xCAT-UI xCAT xCATsn xCAT-test xCAT-OpenStack xCAT-OpenStack-baremetal xCAT-buildkit"
+        #packages="xCAT-client xCAT-genesis-scripts perl-xCAT xCAT-server xCAT-UI xCAT xCATsn xCAT-test xCAT-OpenStack xCAT-OpenStack-baremetal xCAT-buildkit"
+         packages="xCAT-client xCAT-genesis-scripts perl-xCAT xCAT-server xCAT xCATsn xCAT-test xCAT-buildkit"        
         target_archs=(amd64 ppc64el)
         for file in `echo $packages`
         do
diff --git a/buildcore.sh b/buildcore.sh
index 7edc5cad1..a07099f23 100755
--- a/buildcore.sh
+++ b/buildcore.sh
@@ -41,7 +41,8 @@ UPLOADUSER=bp-sawyers
 FRS=/home/frs/project/x/xc/xcat
 
 # These are the rpms that should be built for each kind of xcat build
-ALLBUILD="perl-xCAT xCAT-client xCAT-server xCAT-IBMhpc xCAT-rmc xCAT-UI xCAT-test xCAT-buildkit xCAT xCATsn xCAT-genesis-scripts xCAT-OpenStack xCAT-SoftLayer xCAT-OpenStack-baremetal"
+#ALLBUILD="perl-xCAT xCAT-client xCAT-server xCAT-IBMhpc xCAT-rmc xCAT-UI xCAT-test xCAT-buildkit xCAT xCATsn xCAT-genesis-scripts xCAT-OpenStack xCAT-SoftLayer xCAT-OpenStack-baremetal"
+ALLBUILD="perl-xCAT xCAT-client xCAT-server  xCAT-test xCAT-buildkit xCAT xCATsn xCAT-genesis-scripts xCAT-SoftLayer"
 ZVMBUILD="perl-xCAT xCAT-server xCAT-UI"
 ZVMLINK="xCAT-client xCAT xCATsn"
 # xCAT and xCATsn have PCM specific configuration - conserver-xcat, syslinux-xcat
diff --git a/perl-xCAT/xCAT/NotifHandler.pm b/perl-xCAT/xCAT/NotifHandler.pm
index c23db6325..c70b73942 100644
--- a/perl-xCAT/xCAT/NotifHandler.pm
+++ b/perl-xCAT/xCAT/NotifHandler.pm
@@ -311,9 +311,6 @@ sub notify {
     my ($modname, $path, $suffix) = fileparse($_, ".pm");
      # print "modname=$modname, path=$path, suffix=$suffix\n";
     if ($suffix =~ /.pm/) { #it is a perl module
-      my $pid;
-      if ($pid=xCAT::Utils->xfork()) { }
-      elsif (defined($pid)) {
 	my $fname;
         if (($path eq "") || ($path eq ".\/")) {
           #default path is /opt/xcat/lib/perl/xCAT_monitoring/ if there is no path specified
@@ -328,8 +325,7 @@ sub notify {
         else {
           ${"xCAT_monitoring::".$modname."::"}{processTableChanges}->($action, $tablename, $old_data, $new_data);
         }
-        exit 0;
-      }
+        return 0;
     }
     else { #it is a command
       my $pid;
diff --git a/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Table.pm b/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Table.pm
index bbe2ddbc8..474e4c8d0 100644
--- a/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Table.pm
+++ b/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Table.pm
@@ -3837,7 +3837,7 @@ sub writeAllEntries
     }
     my $filename = shift;
     my $fh;
-    my $rc;
+    my $rc = 0;
     # open the file for write
     unless (open($fh," > $filename")) {
      my $msg="Unable to open $filename for write \n.";
diff --git a/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Utils.pm b/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Utils.pm
index 5f37479b4..8eb1e0050 100755
--- a/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Utils.pm
+++ b/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Utils.pm
@@ -2162,7 +2162,72 @@ sub osver
     my $line  = '';
     my @lines;
     my $relfile;
-    if (-f "/etc/redhat-release")
+  
+    if (-f "/etc/os-release"){
+        my $version;
+        my $version_id;
+        my $id;
+        my $id_like;
+        my $name;
+        my $prettyname;
+        my $verrel;
+        if (open($relfile,"<","/etc/os-release")) {
+                    my @text = <$relfile>;
+                    close($relfile);
+                    chomp(@text);
+                    #print Dumper(\@text);
+                    foreach my $line (@text){
+                    if($line =~ /^\s*VERSION=\"?([0-9\.]+).*/){
+                    $version=$1;
+                    }
+                    if($line =~ /^\s*VERSION_ID=\"?([0-9\.]+).*/){
+                    $version_id=$1;
+                    }
+
+
+                    if($line =~ /^\s*ID=\"?([0-9a-z\_\-\.]+).*/){
+                    $id=$1;
+                    }
+                    if($line =~ /^\s*ID_LIKE=\"?([0-9a-z\_\-\.]+).*/){
+                    $id_like=$1;
+                    }
+
+
+                    if($line =~ /^\s*NAME=\"?(.*)/){
+                    $name=$1;
+                    }
+                    if($line =~ /^\s*PRETTY_NAME=\"?(.*)/){
+                    $prettyname=$1;
+                    }
+                    }
+        }   
+
+        $os=$id;
+        if (!$os and $id_like) {
+           $os=$id_like;
+        }
+
+        $verrel=$version;
+        if (!$verrel and $version_id) {
+           $verrel=$version_id;
+        }
+     
+      
+        if(!$name and $prettyname){
+           $name=$prettyname;
+        }
+        
+        if($os =~ /rhel/ and $name =~ /Server/i){
+           $os="rhels";
+        }
+        
+        if($verrel =~ /([0-9]+)\.?(.*)/) {
+           $ver=$1;
+           $rel=$2;
+        }
+#     print "$ver -- $rel";    
+    }
+    elsif (-f "/etc/redhat-release")
     {
         open($relfile,"<","/etc/redhat-release");
         $line = <$relfile>;
@@ -2269,8 +2334,10 @@ sub osver
             close($relfile);
         }
     }
+#print "xxxx $type === $rel \n";
     if ( $type and $type =~ /all/ ) {
-        if ( $rel ) {
+        if ( $rel ne "") {
+#    print "xxx $os-$ver-$rel  \n";
             return( "$os" . "," . "$ver" . ".$rel" );
         } else {
             return( "$os" . "," . "$ver" );
diff --git a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/DBobjectdefs.pm b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/DBobjectdefs.pm
index e61152906..2323d469d 100755
--- a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/DBobjectdefs.pm
+++ b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/DBobjectdefs.pm
@@ -192,6 +192,14 @@ sub parse_attr_for_osimage{
             return -1;
         }
         my ($tmp_imagetype, $tmp_arch, $tmp_osname,$tmp_ostype,$tmp_osvers);
+        if (!exists($attr_hash->{osvers})) {
+            $tmp_osvers = xCAT::Utils->osver("all");
+            $tmp_osvers =~ s/,//;
+            $attr_hash->{osvers} = $tmp_osvers; 
+        } else {
+            $tmp_osvers =$attr_hash->{osvers};
+        }
+
         if (!exists($attr_hash->{osarch})) {
             $tmp_arch = `uname -m`;
             chomp($tmp_arch);
@@ -200,13 +208,13 @@ sub parse_attr_for_osimage{
         } else {
             $tmp_arch = $attr_hash->{osarch};
         }
-        if (!exists($attr_hash->{osvers})) {
-            $tmp_osvers = xCAT::Utils->osver("all");
-            $tmp_osvers =~ s/,//;
-            $attr_hash->{osvers} = $tmp_osvers; 
-        } else {
-            $tmp_osvers =$attr_hash->{osvers};
-        }
+         
+        #for ubuntu,the the arch attribute "ppc64le" should be modified to "ppc64el"
+        if(($tmp_osvers =~ /^ubuntu/i) && ($tmp_arch =~ /^ppc64le/i)){
+            $tmp_arch="ppc64el";
+            $attr_hash->{osarch} = "ppc64el"; 
+        } 
+        
         $tmp_osname = $tmp_osvers;
         $tmp_ostype="Linux";  #like Linux, Windows
         $tmp_imagetype="linux";
diff --git a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/tabutils.pm b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/tabutils.pm
index 3001c0546..71f5cfe71 100644
--- a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/tabutils.pm
+++ b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/tabutils.pm
@@ -740,7 +740,7 @@ sub tabdump
       output_table($table,$cb,$tabh,$recs); 
     } else { # dump to file
       
-      my $rc1;
+      my $rc1 = 0;
       my $fh;
       # check to see if you can open the file
       unless (open($fh," > $FILENAME")) {
diff --git a/xCAT-server/sbin/xcatd b/xCAT-server/sbin/xcatd
index 25ee8462e..2dbb8fed8 100755
--- a/xCAT-server/sbin/xcatd
+++ b/xCAT-server/sbin/xcatd
@@ -2157,7 +2157,7 @@ sub get_request {
     my $encode = shift;
     my $request = shift;
     if ($encode eq "xml") {
-        my $line = "";
+        my $line = $request;
         while ((!$request) || ($request !~ m/<\/xcatrequest>/)) { 
             my $flags=fcntl($sock,F_GETFL,0);
             $flags |= O_NONBLOCK; #we want sysread to bail on us, select seems to be evil to us still..
@@ -2171,7 +2171,7 @@ sub get_request {
             $flags=fcntl($sock,F_GETFL,0);
             $flags &= ~O_NONBLOCK; #now we want *print* to be blocking IO
             fcntl($sock,F_SETFL,$flags);
-            $request .= $line;
+            $request = $line;
         }
         return eval { XMLin($request, SuppressEmpty=>undef,ForceArray=>1) };
     } elsif ($encode eq "storable") {
diff --git a/xCAT-server/share/xcat/ib/scripts/Mellanox/mlnxofed_ib_install b/xCAT-server/share/xcat/ib/scripts/Mellanox/mlnxofed_ib_install
index 62039922e..6ae065f70 100755
--- a/xCAT-server/share/xcat/ib/scripts/Mellanox/mlnxofed_ib_install
+++ b/xCAT-server/share/xcat/ib/scripts/Mellanox/mlnxofed_ib_install
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/bin/sh 
+#!/bin/sh
 #
 #
 # Sample script to customize options for Mellonax OFED IB support
@@ -143,8 +143,8 @@ deb http://91.189.88.140/ubuntu-ports/ trusty-updates universe" >> /etc/apt/sour
             cat /etc/os-release|grep NAME|grep Ubuntu>/dev/null &&
             uname -m |grep ppc64 >/dev/null
         then
-            echo "ARCH=powerpc perl -x mlnxofedinstall $mlnxofed_options"
-            ARCH=powerpc perl -x mlnxofedinstall --without-fw-update  $mlnxofed_options
+            echo "ARCH=powerpc perl -x mlnxofedinstall --without-fw-update $mlnxofed_options"
+            ARCH=powerpc perl -x mlnxofedinstall --without-fw-update $mlnxofed_options
             sleep 1
             service openibd restart
         else
@@ -211,10 +211,50 @@ deb http://91.189.88.140/ubuntu-ports/ trusty-updates universe" >> $sourceslist
             mount --bind  /dev $installroot/dev/
             mount --bind  /proc  $installroot/proc/ 
             mount --bind  /sys   $installroot/sys/
-            chroot $installroot  apt-get install -y linux-headers-$(uname -r)
 
-            echo "perl -x mlnxofedinstall $mlnxofed_options"
+            mv "${installroot}/bin/uname" "${installroot}/bin/uname.nouse"
+#            cat <<-EOF >"${installroot}/bin/uname"
+#		#!/bin/sh 
+#		[ "\$1" = "-r" ] && cd /lib/modules && for d in *; do :; done && echo \$d
+#		[ "\$1" = "-m" ] && if [ -d "/proc/powerpc" ];then echo ppc64le;else echo x86_64;fi 
+#		[ "\$1" = "-s" ] && echo Linux
+#		exit 0
+#		EOF
+
+            cat <<-EOF >"${installroot}/bin/uname"
+		#!/bin/sh 
+		case "\$1" in
+		"-m")
+			ARCH="\$(dpkg --print-architecture || rpm -q kernel-\$("\$0" -r) --qf '%{arch}')"
+			case "\$ARCH" in
+			"amd64")		
+				ARCH="x86_64"
+				;;
+			"ppc64el")
+			        ARCH="ppc64le"		
+				;;	
+			esac
+			echo "\$ARCH"	
+			;;
+		"-r")	
+			cd /lib/modules && for d in * ; do : ; done && echo \$d	
+			;;
+		"-s"|"")
+			echo "Linux"	
+			;;
+		esac
+		exit 0
+		EOF
+
+#            head -n 999 "${installroot}/bin/uname"
+            chmod 0755 "${installroot}/bin/uname"
+             
+            chroot $installroot sh -c 'apt-get install -y linux-headers-$(uname -r)'
+
+            echo "perl -x /tmp/ofed_install/ofed/mlnxofedinstall  --without-fw-update $mlnxofed_options"
             chroot $installroot  perl -x /tmp/ofed_install/ofed/mlnxofedinstall  --without-fw-update $mlnxofed_options
+            mv "${installroot}/bin/uname.nouse" "${installroot}/bin/uname"
+
             rm -rf $installroot/tmp/ofed_install 
             umount $installroot/dev/
             umount $installroot/proc/
diff --git a/xCAT-server/share/xcat/install/ubuntu/compute.tmpl b/xCAT-server/share/xcat/install/ubuntu/compute.tmpl
index d3b3a79c8..01c1c74ac 100644
--- a/xCAT-server/share/xcat/install/ubuntu/compute.tmpl
+++ b/xCAT-server/share/xcat/install/ubuntu/compute.tmpl
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ d-i partman/early_command string \
         rm /tmp/devs-with-boot 2>/dev/null || true; \
     else \
         DEV=`ls /dev/disk/by-path/* -l | egrep -o '/dev.*sd[^0-9]$' | sort -t : -k 1 -k 2 -k 3 -k 4 -k 5 -k 6 -k 7 -k 8 -g | head -n1 | egrep -o 'sd.*$'`; \
-        if [[ $DEV == "" ]]; then DEV="sda"; fi; \
+        if [[ "$DEV" == "" ]]; then DEV="sda"; fi; \
         echo "/dev/$DEV" > /tmp/boot_disk; \
     fi; \
     debconf-set partman-auto/disk "$(cat /tmp/boot_disk)"
diff --git a/xCAT-server/share/xcat/install/ubuntu/kvm.tmpl b/xCAT-server/share/xcat/install/ubuntu/kvm.tmpl
index 1f7fa6e21..01c1c74ac 100644
--- a/xCAT-server/share/xcat/install/ubuntu/kvm.tmpl
+++ b/xCAT-server/share/xcat/install/ubuntu/kvm.tmpl
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ d-i netcfg/dhcp_timeout string 120
 
 d-i mirror/country string manual
 d-i mirror/protocol string http
-d-i mirror/http/directory string /install/#TABLE:nodetype:$NODE:os#/#TABLE:nodetype:$NODE:arch#
+d-i mirror/http/directory string #INCLUDE_OSIMAGE_PKGDIR#
 d-i mirror/http/proxy string
 
 # Suite to install.
@@ -37,7 +37,26 @@ d-i partman-md/device_remove_md boolean true
 
 #create the /tmp/partitioning based on the uefi or legacy bios 
 d-i partman/early_command string \
-    debconf-set partman-auto/disk "$(list-devices disk | head -n1)"
+    set -x; \
+    rm /tmp/devs-with-boot 2>/dev/null || true; \
+    for d in $(list-devices partition); do \
+        mkdir -p /tmp/mymount; \
+        rc=0; \
+        mount $d /tmp/mymount || rc=$?; \
+        if [[ $rc -eq 0 ]]; then \
+            [[ -d /tmp/mymount/boot ]] && echo $d >>/tmp/devs-with-boot; \
+            umount /tmp/mymount; \
+        fi \
+    done; \
+    if [[ -e /tmp/devs-with-boot ]]; then \
+        head -n1 /tmp/devs-with-boot | egrep  -o '\S+[^0-9]' > /tmp/boot_disk; \
+        rm /tmp/devs-with-boot 2>/dev/null || true; \
+    else \
+        DEV=`ls /dev/disk/by-path/* -l | egrep -o '/dev.*sd[^0-9]$' | sort -t : -k 1 -k 2 -k 3 -k 4 -k 5 -k 6 -k 7 -k 8 -g | head -n1 | egrep -o 'sd.*$'`; \
+        if [[ "$DEV" == "" ]]; then DEV="sda"; fi; \
+        echo "/dev/$DEV" > /tmp/boot_disk; \
+    fi; \
+    debconf-set partman-auto/disk "$(cat /tmp/boot_disk)"
 d-i partman-auto/expert_recipe_file string /tmp/partitioning
 
 # This makes partman automatically partition without confirmation, provided
diff --git a/xCAT-server/share/xcat/netboot/ubuntu/compute.pkglist b/xCAT-server/share/xcat/netboot/ubuntu/compute.pkglist
index c23ba181a..617097381 100644
--- a/xCAT-server/share/xcat/netboot/ubuntu/compute.pkglist
+++ b/xCAT-server/share/xcat/netboot/ubuntu/compute.pkglist
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ bash
 nfs-common
 openssl
 isc-dhcp-client
-linux-image-server
+linux-image-generic
 openssh-server 
 openssh-client
 wget
diff --git a/xCAT-server/share/xcat/netboot/ubuntu/genimage b/xCAT-server/share/xcat/netboot/ubuntu/genimage
index 2b41a05cd..8ae54c759 100755
--- a/xCAT-server/share/xcat/netboot/ubuntu/genimage
+++ b/xCAT-server/share/xcat/netboot/ubuntu/genimage
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ my $permission; # the permission works only for statelite mode currently
 my $tempfile;
 my $prompt;
 my $noupdate;
+my $kernelimage;
 
 
 sub xdie {
@@ -211,7 +212,7 @@ unless ($onlyinitrd) {
    if ($kernelver) {
       find(\&isaptdir, <$kerneldir/>);
       if (!grep /$kerneldir/, @aptdirs) {
-         print "The repository for $kerneldir should be created before running the geniamge. Try to run [createrepo $kerneldir].\n";
+         print "The repository for $kerneldir should be created before running the genimage.\n";
       }
    }
    unless (scalar(@aptdirs)) {
@@ -315,6 +316,9 @@ unless ($onlyinitrd) {
                     }
                     push @npa, $kernelname;
                 }
+                elsif ($p =~ /linux-image-generic/) {
+                    $kernelimage = "linux-image-generic";
+                }
                 elsif ($p =~ /^@/) {
                     push @npa, "\"$p\"";
                 }
@@ -471,6 +475,13 @@ unless ($onlyinitrd) {
        #my $aptgetcmd_update = $yumcmd_base . " upgrade  ";
        my $aptgetcmd_update = $aptgetcmd . "&&". $aptgetcmdby . " upgrade  ";
        $rc = system("$aptgetcmd_update");
+       if ($kernelimage) {
+           if ($kernelver) {
+               $kernelimage = "linux-image-".$kernelver;
+           }
+           my $aptgetcmd_install = $aptgetcmd . "&&". $aptgetcmdby. " install --no-install-recommends ".$kernelimage;
+           $rc = system("$aptgetcmd_install");
+       }
        print("Umount /proc, /dev, /sys, pkgdir and otherpkgdir to the rootimg.\n");
        umount_chroot($rootimg_dir);
        # ignore any return code
diff --git a/xCAT-server/share/xcat/tools/xCATreg b/xCAT-server/share/xcat/tools/xCATreg
index 507e5e38b..7c4438184 100755
--- a/xCAT-server/share/xcat/tools/xCATreg
+++ b/xCAT-server/share/xcat/tools/xCATreg
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ sub usage
                                     -U: when -U is specified, only code updates can trigger the regression.\n
                                     -V: log and message in verbose mode.\n
                                     -e: <email_addr>   send the test result to email_addr\n";
-    print "  xCATreg [-?|-h]\n";
+    print "  xCATreg [--help|-h]\n";
     print "  xCATreg [-f configure file] [-b branch] [-m mangement node][-V][-e] install mn \n";
     print "  xCATreg [-f configure file] [-b branch] [-m mangement node ] [-U][-V][-e] if code updates there will be regression.\n";
     print "\n";
@@ -1530,7 +1530,7 @@ send_msg(2,"........................");
 #######################################
 send_msg(2, "step 0, initializing...............");
 if (
-    !GetOptions("h|?"  => \$needhelp,
+    !GetOptions("h|help"  => \$needhelp,
                 "f=s" => \$configfile,
                 "b=s" => \$branch,
                 "m=s" => \$management_node,
diff --git a/xCAT/postscripts/disableconsistentNICrename b/xCAT/postscripts/disableconsistentNICrename
index 3c5e221b0..90f33c039 100755
--- a/xCAT/postscripts/disableconsistentNICrename
+++ b/xCAT/postscripts/disableconsistentNICrename
@@ -2,4 +2,15 @@
 #modify the grub.cfg to prevent nic consistent network  renameing
 grep -E -q "net.ifnames=0" /etc/sysconfig/grub  || sed -i '/^GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=.*/{s/"$/ net.ifnames=0"/}' /etc/sysconfig/grub
 grep -E -q "net.ifnames=0" /etc/default/grub || sed -i '/^GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=.*/{s/"$/ net.ifnames=0"/}' /etc/default/grub
-grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
+
+if [ -f "/boot/efi/EFI/redhat/grub.cfg" ];then
+  GRUB_CFG_FILE="/boot/efi/EFI/redhat/grub.cfg"
+#elif [ -f "/boot/efi/efi/SuSE/elilo.efi" ];then
+elif [ -f "/boot/grub2/grub.cfg" ];then
+  GRUB_CFG_FILE="/boot/grub2/grub.cfg"
+elif [ -f "/boot/grub/grub.cfg" ];then
+  GRUB_CFG_FILE="/boot/grub/grub.cfg"
+fi
+
+
+grub2-mkconfig -o "$GRUB_CFG_FILE"