diff --git a/scripts/make_kernel.sh b/scripts/make_kernel.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..6a236b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/make_kernel.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -e
+
+cd /usr/src/linux
+
+# make clean
+# make oldconfig
+make menuconfig
+make all ${MAKEOPTS}
+make modules_install
+
+NEW=$(make kernelversion)
+TARGET=/boot
+
+# If EFI store kernel under EFI
+[ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && [ -d /boot/EFI/Gentoo ] && TARGET=/boot/EFI/Gentoo
+
+dracut --xz -H --force --strip ${TARGET}/initrd-${NEW} ${NEW}
+
+export INSTALL_PATH=${TARGET}
+make install
+
+if [ ! -d /sys/firmware/efi ]; then
+	grub2-mkconfig -o ${TARGET}/grub/grub.cfg
+	pushd ${TARGET} >/dev/null
+	ln -sf System.map-${NEW} System.map
+	popd > /dev/null
+fi
+
+echo "Building tools from within kernel sources..."
+echo "  cpupower (requires pciutils):"
+cd tools/power/cpupower && make ${MAKEOPTS}
+cp -a cpupower /usr/local/bin
+cp -a libcpupower.so* /usr/lib
+
+echo "After successful boot of new kernel run:"
+echo "   root # emerge @module-rebuild"
+# eselect opengl set ati
+
+cp /usr/src/linux/.config  /etc/kernel/kernel-config-${NEW} 
diff --git a/scripts/update_box.sh b/scripts/update_box.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..971407f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/update_box.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -e
+
+# parallel jobs to speed up configure runs etc.
+# but only half as many if CPU cores > 4
+CPUS=$(nproc)
+[ $CPUS -ge 4 ] && JOBS="--jobs $((CPUS/2))"
+emerge --ask --update --deep --newuse --keep-going --accept-properties=-interactive --with-bdeps=y ${JOBS} world
+
+echo "Going to remove unneeded packages ..."
+emerge --depclean
+
+if [ -x $(which localepurge) ]; then
+	echo "Removing unneeded locales..."
+	localepurge
+fi
+
+echo "Fixing dependencies..."
+revdep-rebuild -i
+
+echo "Updating eix cache..."
+eix-update -q
+
+echo "Cleaning up archives.."
+eclean -q -d packages
+eclean -q -d distfiles
diff --git a/scripts/update_portage.sh b/scripts/update_portage.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..5bde9c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/update_portage.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# set -x
+
+PORTAGE="/usr/portage"
+# By default store SquashFS backing file under /mnt/portage
+SQFS_PORTAGE="/mnt/portage/portage.sqfs"
+# Store temporary overlayFS within portage tmpdir
+OVERLAY="$(portageq envvar PORTAGE_TMPDIR)/portage.overlayfs"
+OVERLAY_NAME=portage_overlay
+
+usage () {
+    cat << EOF
+Usage: $0 [-p portage_tree] [-s squashfs_file]
+EOF
+    exit 0
+}
+
+# mount squashed portage incl. writeable overlay
+mount_overlay () {
+    # Make sure backing tree is mounted, try to mount otherwise
+    mountpoint -q ${PORTAGE} || mount ${PORTAGE} && echo "Mounted ${PORTAGE}."
+
+    # mount the overlay on top of existing live portage tree 
+    mkdir -p ${OVERLAY} ${OVERLAY}.work
+    mount | grep -q ${OVERLAY_NAME} || mount -t overlay ${OVERLAY_NAME} \
+      -olowerdir=${PORTAGE},upperdir=${OVERLAY},workdir=${OVERLAY}.work \
+      ${PORTAGE} && echo "Mounted Overlay file system." 
+}
+
+# umount overlay and clean up temp dirs
+umount_overlay () {
+    umount ${OVERLAY_NAME} && rm -rf ${OVERLAY} ${OVERLAY}.work
+    echo "Overlay file system unmounted."
+}
+
+# umount current, replace and mount new 
+replace_squashfs () {
+    mountpoint -q ${PORTAGE}
+    if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
+        umount ${PORTAGE} && echo "Unmounted ${PORTAGE}."
+        if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+            echo "Could not unmount ${PORTAGE} !"
+            echo "New portage snapshot is at ${SQFS_PORTAGE}.new"
+            exit 1
+        fi
+    fi
+
+    if [ -f ${SQFS_PORTAGE} ]; then
+        mv ${SQFS_PORTAGE} ${SQFS_PORTAGE}.previous
+    else
+        echo "No current squashFS backing file ${SQFS_PORTAGE} found,\
+	assuming initial setup."
+    fi
+    mv ${SQFS_PORTAGE}.new ${SQFS_PORTAGE} && \
+      mount ${PORTAGE} && echo "Updated tree mounted at ${PORTAGE}."
+}
+
+# Create new squashfs image
+create_squashfs () {
+    mksquashfs ${PORTAGE} ${SQFS_PORTAGE}.new -comp xz -noappend \
+      -no-progress && echo "SquashFS snapshot created at ${SQFS_PORTAGE}.new"
+}
+
+# Any custom changes to the portage tree 
+customize () {
+    echo "Applying local customizations ..."
+
+    # Delete any package mask
+    [ -f ${PORTAGE}/profiles/hardened/linux/amd64/package.mask ] && \
+      rm -f ${PORTAGE}/profiles/hardened/linux/amd64/package.mask
+
+    # Reenable nvidia
+    perl -i -p -e 's/^(app-admin\/conky nvidia|x11-drivers\/nvidia|nvidia|video_cards_nvidia|vdpau|cuda|opencl)/# $1/;' \
+      ${PORTAGE}/profiles/hardened/linux/use.mask \
+      ${PORTAGE}/profiles/hardened/linux/amd64/use.mask \
+      ${PORTAGE}/profiles/hardened/linux/amd64/package.use.mask
+}
+
+while getopts "p:s:" OPTIONS; do
+   case $OPTIONS in
+       p) PORTAGE=$OPTARG;;
+       s) SQFS_PORTAGE=$OPTARG;;
+       ?) usage;;
+   esac
+done
+
+[ -d ${PORTAGE} ] || { echo "${PORTAGE} is not a directory!"; usage; }
+
+mount_overlay
+emaint sync -r gentoo
+
+# Optional 
+customize
+
+create_squashfs
+umount_overlay
+replace_squashfs