diff --git a/xCAT-server/lib/perl/xCAT/Template.pm b/xCAT-server/lib/perl/xCAT/Template.pm
index 4bf6f1c06..a3446f533 100644
--- a/xCAT-server/lib/perl/xCAT/Template.pm
+++ b/xCAT-server/lib/perl/xCAT/Template.pm
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ sub subvars {
   $node = shift;
   my $pkglistfile=shift;
   my $media_dir = shift;
+  my $platform=shift;
 
   my $outh;
   my $inh;
@@ -80,6 +81,36 @@ sub subvars {
       $inc =~ s/#INCLUDE_DEFAULT_RMPKGLIST_S#/#INCLUDE_RMPKGLIST:$pkglistfile#/g;
   }
 
+  if (("ubuntu" eq $platform) || ("debian" eq $platform)) {
+    # since debian/ubuntu uses a preseed file instead of a kickstart file, pkglist
+    # must be included via simple string replacement instead of using includefile()
+
+    # the first line of $pkglistfile is the space-delimited package list
+    # the additional lines are considered preseed directives and included as is
+
+    if ($pkglistfile) {
+      # handle empty and non-empty $pkglistfile's
+
+      if (open PKGLISTFILE, "<$pkglistfile") {
+        my $pkglist = <PKGLISTFILE>;
+        chomp $pkglist;
+
+        # substitute space-delimited package list
+        $inc =~ s/#INCLUDE_DEFAULT_PKGLIST_PRESEED#/$pkglist/g;
+
+        # append preseed directive lines
+        while (<PKGLISTFILE>) {
+          $inc .= $_;
+        }
+
+        close PKGLISTFILE;
+      }
+    } else {
+      # handle no $pkglistfile
+      $inc =~ s/#INCLUDE_DEFAULT_PKGLIST_PRESEED#//g;
+    }
+  }
+
   #do *all* includes, recursive and all
   my $doneincludes=0;
   while (not $doneincludes) {
diff --git a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/debian.pm b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/debian.pm
index b6826ac7d..6645f1e95 100644
--- a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/debian.pm
+++ b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/debian.pm
@@ -400,6 +400,7 @@ sub mkinstall
         my $profile;
         my $tmplfile;
         my $pkgdir;
+	my $pkglistfile;
 	my $imagename;
 	my $platform;
 
@@ -421,7 +422,7 @@ sub mkinstall
 		    if (!$linuximagetab) {
 			$linuximagetab=xCAT::Table->new('linuximage', -create=>1);
 		    }
-		    (my $ref1) = $linuximagetab->getAttribs({imagename => $imagename}, 'template', 'pkgdir');
+		    (my $ref1) = $linuximagetab->getAttribs({imagename => $imagename}, 'template', 'pkgdir', 'pkglist');
 		    if ($ref1) {
 			if ($ref1->{'template'}) {
 			    $img_hash{$imagename}->{template}=$ref1->{'template'};
@@ -429,6 +430,9 @@ sub mkinstall
 			if ($ref1->{'pkgdir'}) {
 			    $img_hash{$imagename}->{pkgdir}=$ref1->{'pkgdir'};
 			}
+			if ($ref1->{'pkglist'}) {
+			    $img_hash{$imagename}->{pkglist}=$ref1->{'pkglist'};
+			}
 		    }
 		    # if the install template wasn't found, then lets look for it in the default locations.
 		    unless($img_hash{$imagename}->{template}){
@@ -443,6 +447,19 @@ sub mkinstall
 			    $img_hash{$imagename}->{template}=$tmplfile;
 			}
 		    }
+                    #if the install pkglist wasn't found, then lets look for it in the default locations
+			unless($img_hash{$imagename}->{pkglist}){
+					my $pltfrm=xCAT_plugin::anaconda::getplatform($ref->{'osvers'});
+				my $pkglistfile=xCAT::SvrUtils::get_pkglist_file_name("$installroot/custom/install/$pltfrm", 
+					$ref->{'profile'}, $ref->{'osvers'}, $ref->{'osarch'}, $ref->{'osvers'});
+				if (! $pkglistfile) { $pkglistfile=xCAT::SvrUtils::get_pkglist_file_name("$::XCATROOT/share/xcat/install/$pltfrm", 
+					$ref->{'profile'}, $ref->{'osvers'}, $ref->{'osarch'}, $ref->{'osvers'});
+					 }	   
+			# if we managed to find it, put it in the hash:
+			if($pkglistfile){
+				$img_hash{$imagename}->{pkglist}=$pkglistfile;
+			}	   
+			}
 		} else {
 		    $callback->(
 			{error     => ["The os image $imagename does not exists on the osimage table for $node"],
@@ -461,6 +478,7 @@ sub mkinstall
 	    if (!$pkgdir) {
 		$pkgdir="$installroot/$os/$arch";
 	    }
+		$pkglistfile=$ph->{pkglist};
 	}
 	else {
 	    $os = $ent->{os};
@@ -473,6 +491,9 @@ sub mkinstall
 	    $tmplfile=xCAT::SvrUtils::get_tmpl_file_name("$installroot/custom/install/$platform", $profile, $os, $arch, $genos);
 	    if (! $tmplfile) { $tmplfile=xCAT::SvrUtils::get_tmpl_file_name("$::XCATROOT/share/xcat/install/$platform", $profile, $os, $arch, $genos); }
 
+		$pkglistfile=xCAT::SvrUtils::get_pkglist_file_name("$installroot/custom/install/$platform", $profile, $os, $arch, $genos);
+		if (! $pkglistfile) { $pkglistfile=xCAT::SvrUtils::get_pkglist_file_name("$::XCATROOT/share/xcat/install/$platform", $profile, $os, $arch, $genos); }
+
 	    $pkgdir="$installroot/$os/$arch";
 	}
 
@@ -538,7 +559,10 @@ sub mkinstall
               xCAT::Template->subvars(
                     $tmplfile,
                     "$installroot/autoinst/" . $node,
-                    $node
+                    $node,
+			$pkglistfile,
+			"",
+			$platform
                     );
         }
 
diff --git a/xCAT-server/sbin/xcatconfig b/xCAT-server/sbin/xcatconfig
index 0cab3d117..911ff3cf9 100755
--- a/xCAT-server/sbin/xcatconfig
+++ b/xCAT-server/sbin/xcatconfig
@@ -831,6 +831,23 @@ sub genSSHNodeHostKey
     }
 }
 
+# on Ubuntu need to painstakingly compare /etc/localtime with files under
+# /usr/share/zoneinfo since /etc/localtime # isn't always a symbolic link
+sub discover_timezone_ubuntu
+{
+	my $localtime = "/etc/localtime";
+	my $zoneinfo = "/usr/share/zoneinfo";
+
+	my $zone_result = `find $zoneinfo -type f -exec cmp -s $localtime {} \\; -print | grep -v posix | grep -v SystemV`;
+
+	my @zones = split /\n/, $zone_result;
+
+	$zones[0] =~ s/$zoneinfo\///;
+	$zones[0] =~ s/\//_/g;
+
+	return $zones[0];
+}
+
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 =head3    initDB 
@@ -926,6 +943,10 @@ sub initDB
             $tz =
               `grep ^ZONE /etc/sysconfig/clock|cut -d= -f 2|sed -e 's/"//g'`;
         }
+        elsif (-f "/etc/lsb-release")
+        {
+            $tz = discover_timezone_ubuntu;
+        }
         else
         {
 
diff --git a/xCAT-server/share/xcat/install/ubuntu/compute.tmpl b/xCAT-server/share/xcat/install/ubuntu/compute.tmpl
index c65d453ae..4655d0f7d 100644
--- a/xCAT-server/share/xcat/install/ubuntu/compute.tmpl
+++ b/xCAT-server/share/xcat/install/ubuntu/compute.tmpl
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 
 ### Localization
-d-i debian-installer/locale string en_GB
+d-i debian-installer/locale string en_US
+d-i localechooser/supported-locales multiselect en_US.UTF-8
 
 # Keyboard Selection
 d-i console-setup/ask_detect boolean false
-d-i console-setup/layoutcode string uk
+d-i console-setup/layoutcode string en
 
 ### Network Configuration
 d-i netcfg/choose_interface select #TABLE:noderes:$NODE:primarynic#
@@ -26,7 +27,7 @@ d-i mirror/http/proxy string
 #d-i mirror/suite string testing
 # Suite to use for loading installer components (optional).
 #d-i mirror/udeb/suite string testing
-#d-i mirror/suite string feisty
+d-i mirror/suite string maverick
  
 
 ### Partitioning
@@ -97,7 +98,7 @@ tasksel tasksel/first multiselect standard
 # gawk required for the xCAT scripts to work
 # Otherwise it installs mawk, which doesn't work
 
-d-i pkgsel/include string openssh-server ntp gawk
+d-i pkgsel/include string openssh-server ntp gawk #INCLUDE_DEFAULT_PKGLIST_PRESEED#
 
 d-i debian-installer/allow_unauthenticated string true
 d-i pkgsel/update-policy select none
@@ -123,5 +124,9 @@ d-i preseed/early_command string wget http://#TABLE:noderes:$NODE:nfsserver#/ins
 d-i preseed/late_command string wget http://#TABLE:noderes:$NODE:nfsserver#/install/autoinst/#TABLE:nodelist:THISNODE:node#.post; \
      chmod u+x #TABLE:nodelist:THISNODE:node#.post; \
      cp ./#TABLE:nodelist:THISNODE:node#.post /target/root/post.script; \
+     mount -o bind /proc /target/proc -t proc; \
+     mount -o bind /dev /target/dev; \
+     mount -o bind /dev/pts /target/dev/pts -t devpts; \
+     mount -o bind /sys /target/sys; \
      chroot /target /root/post.script