diff --git a/openpower/Config.in b/openpower/Config.in
index 19007fe..19a2859 100644
--- a/openpower/Config.in
+++ b/openpower/Config.in
@@ -8,4 +8,8 @@
 endif
 endmenu
 
+menu "Custom Packages"
+source "$BR2_EXTERNAL/custom/Config.in"
+endmenu
+
 endmenu
diff --git a/openpower/custom/Config.in b/openpower/custom/Config.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openpower/custom/Config.in
diff --git a/openpower/custom/README b/openpower/custom/README
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..088575f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openpower/custom/README
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+This directory is for placing custom packages that can be kept separate from
+an upstream op-build.  The purpose of this is to make pulling in upstream
+op-build updates much easier, since your customizations will not touch any 
+files also modified by op-build changes.
+
+openpower/custom/configs        # For machine configs (*_defconfig files)
+                /package        # For additional packages.
+                /patches        # For patching existing packages.
+
+It is recommended that the layout of the custom/configs and custom/package
+directories follow the layout of the openpower/ peers.
+
+The openpower/custom/patches directory should have subdirectories for each
+package desired to be patched and patch files contained inside.  For example
+to add a patch to skiboot you would create:
+    openpower/custom/patches/skiboot/skiboot-0001-example.patch
diff --git a/openpower/custom/configs/.dont_delete_this b/openpower/custom/configs/.dont_delete_this
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openpower/custom/configs/.dont_delete_this
diff --git a/openpower/custom/package/.dont_delete_this b/openpower/custom/package/.dont_delete_this
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openpower/custom/package/.dont_delete_this
diff --git a/openpower/custom/patches/.dont_delete_this b/openpower/custom/patches/.dont_delete_this
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openpower/custom/patches/.dont_delete_this
diff --git a/openpower/external.mk b/openpower/external.mk
index 40f7eae..be628ba 100644
--- a/openpower/external.mk
+++ b/openpower/external.mk
@@ -1 +1,5 @@
 include $(sort $(wildcard $(BR2_EXTERNAL)/package/*/*.mk))
+
+# Utilize user-defined custom directory.
+include $(sort $(wildcard $(BR2_EXTERNAL)/custom/*.mk))
+BR2_GLOBAL_PATCH_DIR += " $(BR2_EXTERNAL)/custom/patches "