diff --git a/scripts/lib/devtool/sdk.py b/scripts/lib/devtool/sdk.py
index 2f416b3..f15a6a9 100644
--- a/scripts/lib/devtool/sdk.py
+++ b/scripts/lib/devtool/sdk.py
@@ -40,14 +40,9 @@
             continue
     return update_dict
 
-def get_sstate_objects(update_dict, newsdk_path):
+def get_sstate_objects(update_dict, sstate_dir):
     """Return a list containing sstate objects which are to be installed"""
     sstate_objects = []
-    # Ensure newsdk_path points to an extensible SDK
-    sstate_dir = os.path.join(newsdk_path, 'sstate-cache')
-    if not os.path.exists(sstate_dir):
-        logger.error("sstate-cache directory not found under %s" % newsdk_path)
-        raise
     for k in update_dict:
         files = set()
         hashval = update_dict[k]
@@ -85,16 +80,12 @@
 
 def sdk_update(args, config, basepath, workspace):
     # Fetch locked-sigs.inc file from remote/local destination
-    from ConfigParser import NoSectionError
     updateserver = args.updateserver
     if not updateserver:
-        try:
-            updateserver = config.get('SDK', 'updateserver', None)
-        except NoSectionError:
-            pass
+        updateserver = config.get('SDK', 'updateserver', '')
     if not updateserver:
         raise DevtoolError("Update server not specified in config file, you must specify it on the command line")
-    logger.debug("updateserver: %s" % args.updateserver)
+    logger.debug("updateserver: %s" % updateserver)
 
     # Make sure we are using sdk-update from within SDK
     logger.debug("basepath = %s" % basepath)
@@ -105,38 +96,45 @@
     else:
         logger.debug("Found conf/locked-sigs.inc in %s" % basepath)
 
-    if ':' in args.updateserver:
+    if ':' in updateserver:
         is_remote = True
     else:
         is_remote = False
 
     if not is_remote:
         # devtool sdk-update /local/path/to/latest/sdk
-        new_locked_sig_file_path = os.path.join(args.updateserver, 'conf/locked-sigs.inc')
+        new_locked_sig_file_path = os.path.join(updateserver, 'conf/locked-sigs.inc')
         if not os.path.exists(new_locked_sig_file_path):
-            logger.error("%s doesn't exist or is not an extensible SDK" % args.updateserver)
+            logger.error("%s doesn't exist or is not an extensible SDK" % updateserver)
             return -1
         else:
-            logger.debug("Found conf/locked-sigs.inc in %s" % args.updateserver)
+            logger.debug("Found conf/locked-sigs.inc in %s" % updateserver)
         update_dict = generate_update_dict(new_locked_sig_file_path, old_locked_sig_file_path)
         logger.debug("update_dict = %s" % update_dict)
-        sstate_objects = get_sstate_objects(update_dict, args.updateserver)
+        sstate_dir = os.path.join(newsdk_path, 'sstate-cache')
+        if not os.path.exists(sstate_dir):
+            logger.error("sstate-cache directory not found under %s" % newsdk_path)
+            return 1
+        sstate_objects = get_sstate_objects(update_dict, sstate_dir)
         logger.debug("sstate_objects = %s" % sstate_objects)
         if len(sstate_objects) == 0:
             logger.info("No need to update.")
             return 0
         logger.info("Installing sstate objects into %s", basepath)
-        install_sstate_objects(sstate_objects, args.updateserver.rstrip('/'), basepath)
+        install_sstate_objects(sstate_objects, updateserver.rstrip('/'), basepath)
         logger.info("Updating configuration files")
-        new_conf_dir = os.path.join(args.updateserver, 'conf')
+        new_conf_dir = os.path.join(updateserver, 'conf')
         old_conf_dir = os.path.join(basepath, 'conf')
         shutil.rmtree(old_conf_dir)
         shutil.copytree(new_conf_dir, old_conf_dir)
         logger.info("Updating layers")
-        new_layers_dir = os.path.join(args.updateserver, 'layers')
+        new_layers_dir = os.path.join(updateserver, 'layers')
         old_layers_dir = os.path.join(basepath, 'layers')
         shutil.rmtree(old_layers_dir)
-        shutil.copytree(new_layers_dir, old_layers_dir)
+        ret = subprocess.call("cp -a %s %s" % (new_layers_dir, old_layers_dir), shell=True)
+        if ret != 0:
+            logger.error("Copying %s to %s failed" % (new_layers_dir, old_layers_dir))
+            return ret
     else:
         # devtool sdk-update http://myhost/sdk
         tmpsdk_dir = '/tmp/sdk-ext'
@@ -145,12 +143,12 @@
         os.makedirs(tmpsdk_dir)
         os.makedirs(os.path.join(tmpsdk_dir, 'conf'))
         # Fetch locked-sigs.inc from update server
-        ret = subprocess.call("wget -q -O - %s/conf/locked-sigs.inc > %s/locked-sigs.inc" % (args.updateserver, os.path.join(tmpsdk_dir, 'conf')), shell=True)
+        ret = subprocess.call("wget -q -O - %s/conf/locked-sigs.inc > %s/locked-sigs.inc" % (updateserver, os.path.join(tmpsdk_dir, 'conf')), shell=True)
         if ret != 0:
-            logger.error("Fetching conf/locked-sigs.inc from %s to %s/locked-sigs.inc failed" % (args.updateserver, os.path.join(tmpsdk_dir, 'conf')))
+            logger.error("Fetching conf/locked-sigs.inc from %s to %s/locked-sigs.inc failed" % (updateserver, os.path.join(tmpsdk_dir, 'conf')))
             return ret
         else:
-            logger.info("Fetching conf/locked-sigs.inc from %s to %s/locked-sigs.inc succeeded" % (args.updateserver, os.path.join(tmpsdk_dir, 'conf')))
+            logger.info("Fetching conf/locked-sigs.inc from %s to %s/locked-sigs.inc succeeded" % (updateserver, os.path.join(tmpsdk_dir, 'conf')))
         new_locked_sig_file_path = os.path.join(tmpsdk_dir, 'conf/locked-sigs.inc')
         update_dict = generate_update_dict(new_locked_sig_file_path, old_locked_sig_file_path)
         logger.debug("update_dict = %s" % update_dict)
@@ -161,23 +159,23 @@
         logger.debug("Updating meta data via git ...")
         # Try using 'git pull', if failed, use 'git clone'
         if os.path.exists(os.path.join(basepath, 'layers/.git')):
-            ret = subprocess.call("cd layers && git pull", shell=True)
+            ret = subprocess.call("cd layers && git pull %s/layers/.git" % updateserver, shell=True)
         else:
             ret = -1
         if ret != 0:
-            ret = subprocess.call("rm -rf layers && git clone %s/layers" % args.updateserver, shell=True)
+            ret = subprocess.call("rm -rf layers && git clone %s/layers/.git" % updateserver, shell=True)
         if ret != 0:
             logger.error("Updating meta data via git failed")
             return ret
         logger.debug("Updating conf files ...")
-        conf_files = ['local.conf', 'bblayers.conf', 'devtool.conf', 'work-config.inc', 'locked-sigs.inc']
+        conf_files = ['local.conf', 'bblayers.conf', 'devtool.conf', 'locked-sigs.inc']
         for conf in conf_files:
-            ret = subprocess.call("wget -q -O - %s/conf/%s > conf/%s" % (args.updateserver, conf, conf), shell=True)
+            ret = subprocess.call("wget -q -O - %s/conf/%s > conf/%s" % (updateserver, conf, conf), shell=True)
             if ret != 0:
                 logger.error("Update %s failed" % conf)
                 return ret
         with open(os.path.join(basepath, 'conf/local.conf'), 'a') as f:
-            f.write('SSTATE_MIRRORS_append = " file://.* %s/sstate-cache/PATH \\n "\n' % args.updateserver)
+            f.write('SSTATE_MIRRORS_append = " file://.* %s/sstate-cache/PATH \\n "\n' % updateserver)
 
     # Run bitbake command for the whole SDK
     sdk_targets = config.get('SDK', 'sdk_targets')