diff --git a/poky/scripts/lib/checklayer/__init__.py b/poky/scripts/lib/checklayer/__init__.py
index fe54560..e69a10f 100644
--- a/poky/scripts/lib/checklayer/__init__.py
+++ b/poky/scripts/lib/checklayer/__init__.py
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@
 
     return layers
 
-def _find_layer_depends(depend, layers):
+def _find_layer(depend, layers):
     for layer in layers:
         if 'collections' not in layer:
             continue
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@
                 return layer
     return None
 
-def add_layer_dependencies(bblayersconf, layer, layers, logger):
+def get_layer_dependencies(layer, layers, logger):
     def recurse_dependencies(depends, layer, layers, logger, ret = []):
         logger.debug('Processing dependencies %s for layer %s.' % \
                     (depends, layer['name']))
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@
             if depend == 'core':
                 continue
 
-            layer_depend = _find_layer_depends(depend, layers)
+            layer_depend = _find_layer(depend, layers)
             if not layer_depend:
                 logger.error('Layer %s depends on %s and isn\'t found.' % \
                         (layer['name'], depend))
@@ -203,6 +203,11 @@
         layer_depends = recurse_dependencies(depends, layer, layers, logger, layer_depends)
 
     # Note: [] (empty) is allowed, None is not!
+    return layer_depends
+
+def add_layer_dependencies(bblayersconf, layer, layers, logger):
+
+    layer_depends = get_layer_dependencies(layer, layers, logger)
     if layer_depends is None:
         return False
     else:
diff --git a/poky/scripts/lib/devtool/build_image.py b/poky/scripts/lib/devtool/build_image.py
index 9388abb..980f90d 100644
--- a/poky/scripts/lib/devtool/build_image.py
+++ b/poky/scripts/lib/devtool/build_image.py
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@
                 with open(appendfile, 'w') as afile:
                     if packages:
                         # include packages from workspace recipes into the image
-                        afile.write('IMAGE_INSTALL_append = " %s"\n' % ' '.join(packages))
+                        afile.write('IMAGE_INSTALL:append = " %s"\n' % ' '.join(packages))
                         if not task:
                             logger.info('Building image %s with the following '
                                         'additional packages: %s', image, ' '.join(packages))
diff --git a/poky/scripts/lib/devtool/sdk.py b/poky/scripts/lib/devtool/sdk.py
index 3aa42a1..ae3fc4c 100644
--- a/poky/scripts/lib/devtool/sdk.py
+++ b/poky/scripts/lib/devtool/sdk.py
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@
         if not sstate_mirrors:
             with open(os.path.join(conf_dir, 'site.conf'), 'a') as f:
                 f.write('SCONF_VERSION = "%s"\n' % site_conf_version)
-                f.write('SSTATE_MIRRORS_append = " file://.* %s/sstate-cache/PATH \\n "\n' % updateserver)
+                f.write('SSTATE_MIRRORS:append = " file://.* %s/sstate-cache/PATH \\n "\n' % updateserver)
     finally:
         shutil.rmtree(tmpsdk_dir)
 
diff --git a/poky/scripts/lib/devtool/search.py b/poky/scripts/lib/devtool/search.py
index d24040d..d81cdd8 100644
--- a/poky/scripts/lib/devtool/search.py
+++ b/poky/scripts/lib/devtool/search.py
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@
                                         splitline = line.split(':', 1)
                                         key = splitline[0]
                                         value = splitline[1].strip()
-                                    if key in ['PKG_%s' % pkg, 'DESCRIPTION', 'FILES_INFO'] or key.startswith('FILERPROVIDES_'):
+                                    if key in ['PKG:%s' % pkg, 'DESCRIPTION', 'FILES_INFO'] or key.startswith('FILERPROVIDES_'):
                                         if keyword_rc.search(value):
                                             match = True
                                             break
diff --git a/poky/scripts/lib/devtool/standard.py b/poky/scripts/lib/devtool/standard.py
index 5eba219..b74a60d 100644
--- a/poky/scripts/lib/devtool/standard.py
+++ b/poky/scripts/lib/devtool/standard.py
@@ -254,13 +254,13 @@
                 f.write('\n# initial_rev: %s\n' % initial_rev)
 
             if args.binary:
-                f.write('do_install_append() {\n')
+                f.write('do_install:append() {\n')
                 f.write('    rm -rf ${D}/.git\n')
                 f.write('    rm -f ${D}/singletask.lock\n')
                 f.write('}\n')
 
             if bb.data.inherits_class('npm', rd):
-                f.write('python do_configure_append() {\n')
+                f.write('python do_configure:append() {\n')
                 f.write('    pkgdir = d.getVar("NPM_PACKAGE")\n')
                 f.write('    lockfile = os.path.join(pkgdir, "singletask.lock")\n')
                 f.write('    bb.utils.remove(lockfile)\n')
@@ -523,7 +523,7 @@
         history = d.varhistory.variable('SRC_URI')
         for event in history:
             if not 'flag' in event:
-                if event['op'].startswith(('_append[', '_prepend[')):
+                if event['op'].startswith((':append[', ':prepend[')):
                     extra_overrides.append(event['op'].split('[')[1].split(']')[0])
         # We want to remove duplicate overrides. If a recipe had multiple
         # SRC_URI_override += values it would cause mulitple instances of
@@ -936,36 +936,36 @@
 
         bb.utils.mkdirhier(os.path.dirname(appendfile))
         with open(appendfile, 'w') as f:
-            f.write('FILESEXTRAPATHS_prepend := "${THISDIR}/${PN}:"\n')
+            f.write('FILESEXTRAPATHS:prepend := "${THISDIR}/${PN}:"\n')
             # Local files can be modified/tracked in separate subdir under srctree
             # Mostly useful for packages with S != WORKDIR
-            f.write('FILESPATH_prepend := "%s:"\n' %
+            f.write('FILESPATH:prepend := "%s:"\n' %
                     os.path.join(srctreebase, 'oe-local-files'))
             f.write('# srctreebase: %s\n' % srctreebase)
 
             f.write('\ninherit externalsrc\n')
             f.write('# NOTE: We use pn- overrides here to avoid affecting multiple variants in the case where the recipe uses BBCLASSEXTEND\n')
-            f.write('EXTERNALSRC_pn-%s = "%s"\n' % (pn, srctree))
+            f.write('EXTERNALSRC:pn-%s = "%s"\n' % (pn, srctree))
 
             b_is_s = use_external_build(args.same_dir, args.no_same_dir, rd)
             if b_is_s:
-                f.write('EXTERNALSRC_BUILD_pn-%s = "%s"\n' % (pn, srctree))
+                f.write('EXTERNALSRC_BUILD:pn-%s = "%s"\n' % (pn, srctree))
 
             if bb.data.inherits_class('kernel', rd):
                 f.write('SRCTREECOVEREDTASKS = "do_validate_branches do_kernel_checkout '
                         'do_fetch do_unpack do_kernel_configcheck"\n')
                 f.write('\ndo_patch[noexec] = "1"\n')
-                f.write('\ndo_configure_append() {\n'
+                f.write('\ndo_configure:append() {\n'
                         '    cp ${B}/.config ${S}/.config.baseline\n'
                         '    ln -sfT ${B}/.config ${S}/.config.new\n'
                         '}\n')
-                f.write('\ndo_kernel_configme_prepend() {\n'
+                f.write('\ndo_kernel_configme:prepend() {\n'
                         '    if [ -e ${S}/.config ]; then\n'
                         '        mv ${S}/.config ${S}/.config.old\n'
                         '    fi\n'
                         '}\n')
             if rd.getVarFlag('do_menuconfig','task'):
-                f.write('\ndo_configure_append() {\n'
+                f.write('\ndo_configure:append() {\n'
                 '    if [ ! ${DEVTOOL_DISABLE_MENUCONFIG} ]; then\n'
                 '        cp ${B}/.config ${S}/.config.baseline\n'
                 '        ln -sfT ${B}/.config ${S}/.config.new\n'
diff --git a/poky/scripts/lib/devtool/upgrade.py b/poky/scripts/lib/devtool/upgrade.py
index da1456a..826a3f9 100644
--- a/poky/scripts/lib/devtool/upgrade.py
+++ b/poky/scripts/lib/devtool/upgrade.py
@@ -103,14 +103,14 @@
     pn = d.getVar('PN')
     af = os.path.join(appendpath, '%s.bbappend' % brf)
     with open(af, 'w') as f:
-        f.write('FILESEXTRAPATHS_prepend := "${THISDIR}/${PN}:"\n\n')
+        f.write('FILESEXTRAPATHS:prepend := "${THISDIR}/${PN}:"\n\n')
         f.write('inherit externalsrc\n')
         f.write(('# NOTE: We use pn- overrides here to avoid affecting'
                  'multiple variants in the case where the recipe uses BBCLASSEXTEND\n'))
-        f.write('EXTERNALSRC_pn-%s = "%s"\n' % (pn, srctree))
+        f.write('EXTERNALSRC:pn-%s = "%s"\n' % (pn, srctree))
         b_is_s = use_external_build(same_dir, no_same_dir, d)
         if b_is_s:
-            f.write('EXTERNALSRC_BUILD_pn-%s = "%s"\n' % (pn, srctree))
+            f.write('EXTERNALSRC_BUILD:pn-%s = "%s"\n' % (pn, srctree))
         f.write('\n')
         if rev:
             f.write('# initial_rev: %s\n' % rev)
@@ -583,6 +583,9 @@
         logger.info('New recipe is %s' % rf)
         if license_diff:
             logger.info('License checksums have been updated in the new recipe; please refer to it for the difference between the old and the new license texts.')
+        preferred_version = rd.getVar('PREFERRED_VERSION_%s' % rd.getVar('PN'))
+        if preferred_version:
+            logger.warning('Version is pinned to %s via PREFERRED_VERSION; it may need adjustment to match the new version before any further steps are taken' % preferred_version)
     finally:
         tinfoil.shutdown()
     return 0
diff --git a/poky/scripts/lib/recipetool/append.py b/poky/scripts/lib/recipetool/append.py
index e9d52bb..5f629c0 100644
--- a/poky/scripts/lib/recipetool/append.py
+++ b/poky/scripts/lib/recipetool/append.py
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
                       '/etc/group': '/etc/group should be managed through the useradd and extrausers classes',
                       '/etc/shadow': '/etc/shadow should be managed through the useradd and extrausers classes',
                       '/etc/gshadow': '/etc/gshadow should be managed through the useradd and extrausers classes',
-                      '${sysconfdir}/hostname': '${sysconfdir}/hostname contents should be set by setting hostname_pn-base-files = "value" in configuration',}
+                      '${sysconfdir}/hostname': '${sysconfdir}/hostname contents should be set by setting hostname:pn-base-files = "value" in configuration',}
 
     for pthspec, message in invalidtargets.items():
         if fnmatch.fnmatchcase(targetpath, d.expand(pthspec)):
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@
                         for fullpth in dictval.keys():
                             if fnmatch.fnmatchcase(fullpth, targetpath):
                                 recipes[targetpath].append(pn)
-                    elif line.startswith('pkg_preinst_') or line.startswith('pkg_postinst_'):
+                    elif line.startswith('pkg_preinst:') or line.startswith('pkg_postinst:'):
                         scriptval = line.split(':', 1)[1].strip().encode('utf-8').decode('unicode_escape')
                         if 'update-alternatives --install %s ' % targetpath in scriptval:
                             recipes[targetpath].append('?%s' % pn)
diff --git a/poky/scripts/lib/recipetool/create.py b/poky/scripts/lib/recipetool/create.py
index 566c753..0ac97e0 100644
--- a/poky/scripts/lib/recipetool/create.py
+++ b/poky/scripts/lib/recipetool/create.py
@@ -710,7 +710,7 @@
         lines_after.append('')
 
     if args.binary:
-        lines_after.append('INSANE_SKIP_${PN} += "already-stripped"')
+        lines_after.append('INSANE_SKIP:${PN} += "already-stripped"')
         lines_after.append('')
 
     if args.npm_dev:
@@ -1177,7 +1177,7 @@
         license = ' '.join(list(set(pkglicenses.get(pkgname, ['Unknown'])))) or 'Unknown'
         if license == 'Unknown' and pkgname in fallback_licenses:
             license = fallback_licenses[pkgname]
-        outlines.append('LICENSE_%s = "%s"' % (pkgname, license))
+        outlines.append('LICENSE:%s = "%s"' % (pkgname, license))
         outlicenses[pkgname] = license.split()
     return outlicenses
 
diff --git a/poky/scripts/lib/recipetool/create_buildsys_python.py b/poky/scripts/lib/recipetool/create_buildsys_python.py
index adfa377..fdd3366 100644
--- a/poky/scripts/lib/recipetool/create_buildsys_python.py
+++ b/poky/scripts/lib/recipetool/create_buildsys_python.py
@@ -45,9 +45,9 @@
         'Summary': 'SUMMARY',
         'Description': 'DESCRIPTION',
         'License': 'LICENSE',
-        'Requires': 'RDEPENDS_${PN}',
-        'Provides': 'RPROVIDES_${PN}',
-        'Obsoletes': 'RREPLACES_${PN}',
+        'Requires': 'RDEPENDS:${PN}',
+        'Provides': 'RPROVIDES:${PN}',
+        'Obsoletes': 'RREPLACES:${PN}',
     }
     # PN/PV are already set by recipetool core & desc can be extremely long
     excluded_fields = [
@@ -301,7 +301,7 @@
                 inst_req_deps = ('python3-' + r.replace('.', '-').lower() for r in sorted(inst_reqs))
                 lines_after.append('# WARNING: the following rdepends are from setuptools install_requires. These')
                 lines_after.append('# upstream names may not correspond exactly to bitbake package names.')
-                lines_after.append('RDEPENDS_${{PN}} += "{}"'.format(' '.join(inst_req_deps)))
+                lines_after.append('RDEPENDS:${{PN}} += "{}"'.format(' '.join(inst_req_deps)))
 
         if mapped_deps:
             name = info.get('Name')
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@
                 lines_after.append('')
             lines_after.append('# WARNING: the following rdepends are determined through basic analysis of the')
             lines_after.append('# python sources, and might not be 100% accurate.')
-            lines_after.append('RDEPENDS_${{PN}} += "{}"'.format(' '.join(sorted(mapped_deps))))
+            lines_after.append('RDEPENDS:${{PN}} += "{}"'.format(' '.join(sorted(mapped_deps))))
 
         unmapped_deps -= set(extensions)
         unmapped_deps -= set(self.assume_provided)
diff --git a/poky/scripts/lib/recipetool/create_kmod.py b/poky/scripts/lib/recipetool/create_kmod.py
index 85b5c48..cc00106 100644
--- a/poky/scripts/lib/recipetool/create_kmod.py
+++ b/poky/scripts/lib/recipetool/create_kmod.py
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@
                 kdirpath, _ = check_target(compile_lines, install=False)
 
             if manual_install or not install_lines:
-                lines_after.append('EXTRA_OEMAKE_append_task-install = " -C ${STAGING_KERNEL_DIR} M=${S}"')
+                lines_after.append('EXTRA_OEMAKE:append:task-install = " -C ${STAGING_KERNEL_DIR} M=${S}"')
             elif install_target and install_target != 'modules_install':
                 lines_after.append('MODULES_INSTALL_TARGET = "install"')