diff --git a/openpower/configs/firenze_defconfig b/openpower/configs/firenze_defconfig
index 76b504c..000b64c 100644
--- a/openpower/configs/firenze_defconfig
+++ b/openpower/configs/firenze_defconfig
@@ -1,50 +1,50 @@
 BR2_powerpc64le=y
 BR2_powerpc_power8=y
-BR2_OPENPOWER_PLATFORM=y
-BR2_OPENPOWER_POWER8=y
-
+BR2_KERNEL_HEADERS_4_4=y
+BR2_BINUTILS_VERSION_2_26_X=y
 BR2_BINUTILS_EXTRA_CONFIG_OPTIONS="--enable-targets=powerpc64-linux"
+BR2_GCC_VERSION_6_X=y
 BR2_EXTRA_GCC_CONFIG_OPTIONS="--enable-targets=powerpc64-linux"
-
-BR2_OPENPOWER_CONFIG_NAME="openpower-firenze"
-
 BR2_TARGET_GENERIC_HOSTNAME="skiroot"
-
-# petitboot requirements
-BR2_ENABLE_LOCALE_PURGE=y
+BR2_ROOTFS_DEVICE_CREATION_DYNAMIC_EUDEV=y
+BR2_ROOTFS_DEVICE_TABLE="../openpower/device_table.txt"
+BR2_TARGET_GENERIC_GETTY_PORT="hvc0"
 BR2_ENABLE_LOCALE_WHITELIST="C de en es fr it ja ko pt_BR ru zh_CN zh_TW"
 BR2_GENERATE_LOCALE="en_US.UTF-8 de_DE.UTF-8 es_ES.UTF-8 fr_FR.UTF-8 it_IT.UTF-8 ja_JP.UTF-8 ko_KR.UTF-8 pt_BR.UTF-8 ru_RU.UTF-8 zh_CN.UTF-8 zh_TW.UTF-8"
-BR2_ROOTFS_DEVICE_CREATION_DYNAMIC_EUDEV=y
-BR2_TARGET_GENERIC_GETTY_PORT="hvc0"
 BR2_ROOTFS_OVERLAY="../openpower/overlay"
-BR2_ROOTFS_DEVICE_TABLE="../openpower/device_table.txt"
 BR2_ROOTFS_POST_BUILD_SCRIPT="../openpower/scripts/fixup-target-var ../openpower/scripts/firenze-firmware-whitelist"
 BR2_LINUX_KERNEL=y
 BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_VERSION=y
 BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_VERSION_VALUE="4.4.19"
-BR2_KERNEL_HEADERS_4_4=y
-BR2_BINUTILS_VERSION_2_26_X=y
 BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_PATCH="$(BR2_EXTERNAL)/linux"
 BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_USE_CUSTOM_CONFIG=y
 BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_CONFIG_FILE="$(BR2_EXTERNAL)/configs/linux/skiroot_defconfig"
 BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_ZIMAGE_EPAPR=y
 BR2_PACKAGE_BUSYBOX_SHOW_OTHERS=y
 BR2_PACKAGE_LINUX_FIRMWARE=y
+BR2_PACKAGE_LINUX_FIRMWARE_RADEON=y
 BR2_PACKAGE_LINUX_FIRMWARE_BNX2X=y
 BR2_PACKAGE_LINUX_FIRMWARE_CXGB4_T4=y
-BR2_PACKAGE_LINUX_FIRMWARE_RADEON=y
 BR2_PACKAGE_I2C_TOOLS=y
+BR2_PACKAGE_IPMITOOL=y
+BR2_PACKAGE_MDADM=y
 BR2_PACKAGE_NCURSES_WCHAR=y
 BR2_PACKAGE_DROPBEAR=y
 # BR2_PACKAGE_DROPBEAR_SERVER is not set
 BR2_PACKAGE_ETHTOOL=y
 BR2_PACKAGE_NETCAT=y
 BR2_PACKAGE_RSYNC=y
+BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_CPIO=y
+BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_CPIO_XZ=y
+BR2_OPENPOWER_PLATFORM=y
+BR2_OPENPOWER_POWER8=y
+# BR2_PACKAGE_HOSTBOOT is not set
+# BR2_PACKAGE_HOSTBOOT_BINARIES is not set
+# BR2_PACKAGE_OPENPOWER_PNOR is not set
+BR2_OPENPOWER_CONFIG_NAME="openpower-firenze"
 BR2_PACKAGE_PETITBOOT=y
 BR2_PACKAGE_PETITBOOT_MTD=y
-BR2_PACKAGE_IPMITOOL=y
-BR2_PACKAGE_MDADM=y
-BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_CPIO_XZ=y
-# do not include rootfs in zImage
-BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_CPIO=y
+# BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_P8_PORE_BINUTILS is not set
+# BR2_PACKAGE_OCC is not set
+# BR2_PACKAGE_CAPP_UCODE is not set
 BR2_PACKAGE_LOADKEYS=y
diff --git a/openpower/configs/openpower_mambo_defconfig b/openpower/configs/openpower_mambo_defconfig
index 0b6e3de..ed835f1 100644
--- a/openpower/configs/openpower_mambo_defconfig
+++ b/openpower/configs/openpower_mambo_defconfig
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 BR2_OPENPOWER_POWER8=y
 
 BR2_KERNEL_HEADERS_4_4=y
+BR2_GCC_VERSION_6_X=y
 BR2_BINUTILS_VERSION_2_26_X=y
 BR2_BINUTILS_EXTRA_CONFIG_OPTIONS="--enable-targets=powerpc64-linux"
 BR2_EXTRA_GCC_CONFIG_OPTIONS="--enable-targets=powerpc64-linux"
diff --git a/openpower/configs/openpower_p9_mambo_defconfig b/openpower/configs/openpower_p9_mambo_defconfig
index 8b10d86..8716c46 100644
--- a/openpower/configs/openpower_p9_mambo_defconfig
+++ b/openpower/configs/openpower_p9_mambo_defconfig
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 BR2_powerpc64le=y
 BR2_powerpc_power8=y
 BR2_KERNEL_HEADERS_4_4=y
+BR2_GCC_VERSION_6_X=y
 BR2_BINUTILS_VERSION_2_26_X=y
 BR2_BINUTILS_EXTRA_CONFIG_OPTIONS="--enable-targets=powerpc64-linux"
 BR2_EXTRA_GCC_CONFIG_OPTIONS="--enable-targets=powerpc64-linux"
@@ -13,7 +14,7 @@
 BR2_ROOTFS_POST_BUILD_SCRIPT="../openpower/scripts/fixup-target-var"
 BR2_LINUX_KERNEL=y
 BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_TARBALL=y
-BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_TARBALL_LOCATION="https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/testing/linux-4.7-rc3.tar.xz"
+BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_TARBALL_LOCATION="https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/testing/linux-4.8-rc5.tar.xz"
 BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_USE_CUSTOM_CONFIG=y
 BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_CONFIG_FILE="$(BR2_EXTERNAL)/configs/linux/skiroot_defconfig"
 BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_ZIMAGE_EPAPR=y
diff --git a/openpower/configs/witherspoon_defconfig b/openpower/configs/witherspoon_defconfig
index 214ca3d..e5eff9f 100644
--- a/openpower/configs/witherspoon_defconfig
+++ b/openpower/configs/witherspoon_defconfig
@@ -41,8 +41,8 @@
 BR2_ROOTFS_DEVICE_TABLE="../openpower/device_table.txt"
 BR2_ROOTFS_POST_BUILD_SCRIPT="../openpower/scripts/fixup-target-var"
 BR2_LINUX_KERNEL=y
-BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_VERSION=y
-BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_VERSION_VALUE="4.4.18"
+BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_TARBALL=y
+BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_TARBALL_LOCATION="https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/testing/linux-4.8-rc5.tar.xz"
 BR2_KERNEL_HEADERS_4_4=y
 BR2_BINUTILS_VERSION_2_26_X=y
 BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_PATCH="$(BR2_EXTERNAL)/linux"
diff --git a/openpower/package/hostboot/hostboot.mk b/openpower/package/hostboot/hostboot.mk
index 0dcd7a5..c62a0cd 100644
--- a/openpower/package/hostboot/hostboot.mk
+++ b/openpower/package/hostboot/hostboot.mk
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # hostboot
 #
 ################################################################################
-HOSTBOOT_VERSION_BRANCH_MASTER_P8 = 3707a3c6562bb54f43099f15836b79ea13659aa7
+HOSTBOOT_VERSION_BRANCH_MASTER_P8 ?= 731154ab4ae5d7cd710d7bdde353ffbc02a01086
 HOSTBOOT_VERSION_BRANCH_MASTER = f5d53757fabb36a84abb75c2f97b66a7429f134b
 
 HOSTBOOT_VERSION ?= $(if $(BR2_OPENPOWER_POWER9),$(HOSTBOOT_VERSION_BRANCH_MASTER),$(HOSTBOOT_VERSION_BRANCH_MASTER_P8))