diff --git a/meta/classes/meta.bbclass b/meta/classes/meta.bbclass
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d35c40bccd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta/classes/meta.bbclass
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+
+PACKAGES = ""
+
+do_build[recrdeptask] = "do_build"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/meta/classes/package_ipk.bbclass b/meta/classes/package_ipk.bbclass
index d88d11b994..1175d1e751 100644
--- a/meta/classes/package_ipk.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/package_ipk.bbclass
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ BOOTSTRAP_EXTRA_RDEPENDS += "ipkg-collateral ipkg ipkg-link"
 DISTRO_EXTRA_RDEPENDS += "ipkg-collateral ipkg ipkg-link"
 IMAGE_PKGTYPE ?= "ipk"
 
+IPKGCONF_TARGET = "${STAGING_ETCDIR_NATIVE}/ipkg.conf"
+IPKGCONF_SDK =  "${STAGING_ETCDIR_NATIVE}/ipkg-sdk.conf"
+
 python package_ipk_fn () {
 	from bb import data
 	bb.data.setVar('PKGFN', bb.data.getVar('PKG',d), d)
@@ -60,6 +63,47 @@ python package_ipk_install () {
 		raise bb.build.FuncFailed
 }
 
+#
+# Update the Packages index files in ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}
+#
+package_update_index_ipk () {
+	set -x
+
+	ipkgarchs="${PACKAGE_ARCHS}"
+
+	if [ ! -z "${DEPLOY_KEEP_PACKAGES}" ]; then
+		return
+	fi
+
+	touch ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}/Packages
+	ipkg-make-index -r ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}/Packages -p ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}/Packages -l ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}/Packages.filelist -m ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}
+
+	for arch in $ipkgarchs; do
+		if [ -e ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}/$arch/ ] ; then 
+			touch ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}/$arch/Packages
+			ipkg-make-index -r ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}/$arch/Packages -p ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}/$arch/Packages -l ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}/$arch/Packages.filelist -m ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}/$arch/
+		fi
+	done
+}
+
+#
+# Generate an ipkg conf file ${IPKGCONF_TARGET} suitable for use against 
+# the target system and an ipkg conf file ${IPKGCONF_SDK} suitable for 
+# use against the host system in sdk builds
+#
+package_generate_ipkg_conf () {
+	mkdir -p ${STAGING_ETCDIR_NATIVE}/
+	echo "src oe file:${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}" > ${IPKGCONF_TARGET}
+	echo "src oe file:${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}" > ${IPKGCONF_SDK}
+	ipkgarchs="${PACKAGE_ARCHS}"
+	priority=1
+	for arch in $ipkgarchs; do
+		echo "arch $arch $priority" >> ${IPKGCONF_TARGET}
+		echo "arch ${BUILD_ARCH}-$arch-sdk $priority" >> ${IPKGCONF_SDK}
+		priority=$(expr $priority + 5)
+	done
+}
+
 python do_package_ipk () {
 	import sys, re, fcntl, copy
 
diff --git a/meta/classes/rootfs_ipk.bbclass b/meta/classes/rootfs_ipk.bbclass
index 3709f89743..3c9d03f9dd 100644
--- a/meta/classes/rootfs_ipk.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/rootfs_ipk.bbclass
@@ -8,41 +8,16 @@
 do_rootfs[depends] += "ipkg-native:do_populate_staging ipkg-utils-native:do_populate_staging"
 do_rootfs[recrdeptask] += "do_package_write_ipk"
 
-IPKG_ARGS = "-f ${T}/ipkg.conf -o ${IMAGE_ROOTFS}"
-
-rootfs_ipk_do_indexes () {
-	set -x
-
-	ipkgarchs="${PACKAGE_ARCHS}"
-
-	if [ -z "${DEPLOY_KEEP_PACKAGES}" ]; then
-		touch ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}/Packages
-		ipkg-make-index -r ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}/Packages -p ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}/Packages -l ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}/Packages.filelist -m ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}
-	fi
-
-	for arch in $ipkgarchs; do
-		if [ -z "${DEPLOY_KEEP_PACKAGES}" ]; then
-			if [ -e ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}/$arch/ ] ; then 
-				touch ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}/$arch/Packages
-				ipkg-make-index -r ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}/$arch/Packages -p ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}/$arch/Packages -l ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}/$arch/Packages.filelist -m ${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}/$arch/
-			fi
-		fi
-	done
-}
+IPKG_ARGS = "-f ${IPKGCONF_TARGET} -o ${IMAGE_ROOTFS}"
 
 fakeroot rootfs_ipk_do_rootfs () {
 	set -x
 
-	rootfs_ipk_do_indexes
+	package_update_index_ipk
+	package_generate_ipkg_conf
 
 	mkdir -p ${T}
-	echo "src oe file:${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}" > ${T}/ipkg.conf
-	ipkgarchs="${PACKAGE_ARCHS}"
-	priority=1
-	for arch in $ipkgarchs; do
-		echo "arch $arch $priority" >> ${T}/ipkg.conf
-		priority=$(expr $priority + 5)
-	done
+
 	ipkg-cl ${IPKG_ARGS} update
 	if [ ! -z "${LINGUAS_INSTALL}" ]; then
 		ipkg-cl ${IPKG_ARGS} install glibc-localedata-i18n
@@ -58,7 +33,7 @@ fakeroot rootfs_ipk_do_rootfs () {
 	export OFFLINE_ROOT=${IMAGE_ROOTFS}
 	export IPKG_OFFLINE_ROOT=${IMAGE_ROOTFS}
 	mkdir -p ${IMAGE_ROOTFS}/etc/ipkg/
-	grep "^arch" ${T}/ipkg.conf >${IMAGE_ROOTFS}/etc/ipkg/arch.conf
+	grep "^arch" ${IPKGCONF_TARGET} >${IMAGE_ROOTFS}/etc/ipkg/arch.conf
 
 	for i in ${IMAGE_ROOTFS}${libdir}/ipkg/info/*.preinst; do
 		if [ -f $i ] && ! sh $i; then
diff --git a/meta/classes/task.bbclass b/meta/classes/task.bbclass
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4edd704829
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta/classes/task.bbclass
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# Task packages are only used to pull in other packages
+# via their dependencies. They are empty.
+ALLOW_EMPTY = "1"
+
+# By default, only the task package itself is in PACKAGES.
+# -dbg and -dev flavours are handled by the anonfunc below.
+# This means that task recipes used to build multiple task
+# packages have to modify PACKAGES after inheriting task.bbclass.
+PACKAGES = "${PN}"
+
+# By default, task packages do not depend on a certain architecture.
+# Only if dependencies are modified by MACHINE_FEATURES, packages
+# need to be set to MACHINE_ARCH after inheriting task.bbclass
+PACKAGE_ARCH = "all"
+
+# This automatically adds -dbg and -dev flavours of all PACKAGES
+# to the list. Their dependencies (RRECOMMENDS) are handled as usual
+# by package_depchains in a following step.
+python () {
+    packages = bb.data.getVar('PACKAGES', d, 1).split()
+    genpackages = []
+    for pkg in packages:
+        for postfix in ['-dbg', '-dev']:
+            genpackages.append(pkg+postfix)
+    bb.data.setVar('PACKAGES', ' '.join(packages+genpackages), d)
+}
+
diff --git a/meta/conf/bitbake.conf b/meta/conf/bitbake.conf
index 7adc8ee9dc..24c3aa1c72 100644
--- a/meta/conf/bitbake.conf
+++ b/meta/conf/bitbake.conf
@@ -171,6 +171,7 @@ STAGING_BINDIR_CROSS = "${STAGING_DIR}/${BUILD_SYS}/bin/${HOST_SYS}"
 STAGING_BINDIR_NATIVE = "${STAGING_DIR}/${BUILD_SYS}/bin"
 STAGING_LIBDIR = "${STAGING_DIR}/${HOST_SYS}/lib"
 STAGING_LIBDIR_NATIVE = "${STAGING_DIR}/${BUILD_SYS}/lib"
+STAGING_ETCDIR_NATIVE = "${STAGING_DIR}/${BUILD_SYS}/etc"
 STAGING_INCDIR = "${STAGING_DIR}/${HOST_SYS}/include"
 STAGING_DATADIR = "${STAGING_DIR}/${HOST_SYS}/share"
 STAGING_LOADER_DIR = "${STAGING_DIR}/${HOST_SYS}/loader"
diff --git a/meta/packages/meta/meta-toolchain.bb b/meta/packages/meta/meta-toolchain.bb
index 1a1bde46c0..a0f38404b0 100644
--- a/meta/packages/meta/meta-toolchain.bb
+++ b/meta/packages/meta/meta-toolchain.bb
@@ -1,21 +1,15 @@
 DESCRIPTION = "Meta package for building a installable toolchain"
 LICENSE = "MIT"
 DEPENDS = "ipkg-native ipkg-utils-native fakeroot-native sed-native"
-PR = "r3"
 
-inherit sdk
-
-PACKAGES = ""
-
-BUILD_ALL_DEPS = "1"
-do_build[recrdeptask] = "do_build"
+inherit sdk meta
 
 SDK_DIR = "${WORKDIR}/sdk"
 SDK_OUTPUT = "${SDK_DIR}/image"
 SDK_DEPLOY = "${TMPDIR}/deploy/sdk"
 
-IPKG_HOST = "ipkg-cl -f ${SDK_DIR}/ipkg-host.conf -o ${SDK_OUTPUT}"
-IPKG_TARGET = "ipkg-cl -f ${SDK_DIR}/ipkg-target.conf -o ${SDK_OUTPUT}/${prefix}"
+IPKG_HOST = "ipkg-cl -f ${IPKGCONF_SDK} -o ${SDK_OUTPUT}"
+IPKG_TARGET = "ipkg-cl -f ${IPKGCONF_TARGET} -o ${SDK_OUTPUT}/${prefix}"
 
 HOST_INSTALL = "task-poky-standalone-sdk-host"
 
@@ -30,20 +24,11 @@ do_populate_sdk() {
 	rm -rf ${SDK_OUTPUT}
 	mkdir -p ${SDK_OUTPUT}
 
-	cat <<EOF >${SDK_DIR}/ipkg-host.conf
-src oe file:${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}
-EOF
-        cat <<EOF >${SDK_DIR}/ipkg-target.conf
-src oe file:${DEPLOY_DIR_IPK}
-EOF
-	ipkgarchs="${PACKAGE_ARCHS}"
-	priority=1
-	for arch in $ipkgarchs; do
-		echo "arch $arch $priority" >> ${SDK_DIR}/ipkg-target.conf
-		echo "arch ${BUILD_ARCH}-$arch-sdk $priority" >> ${SDK_DIR}/ipkg-host.conf
-		priority=$(expr $priority + 5)
+	package_generate_ipkg_conf
+
+	for arch in ${PACKAGE_ARCHS}; do
 		revipkgarchs="$arch $revipkgarchs"
-        done
+	done
 
 	rm -r ${SDK_OUTPUT}
 	mkdir -p ${SDK_OUTPUT}