diff --git a/core/chaincode/shim/java/javabuild.sh b/core/chaincode/shim/java/javabuild.sh
index 00d61fc321a..27ab680772d 100755
--- a/core/chaincode/shim/java/javabuild.sh
+++ b/core/chaincode/shim/java/javabuild.sh
@@ -18,7 +18,17 @@
 #
 set -e
 PARENTDIR=$(pwd)
+ARCH=`uname -m`
 
-gradle -q -b ${PARENTDIR}/core/chaincode/shim/java/build.gradle clean
-gradle -q -b ${PARENTDIR}/core/chaincode/shim/java/build.gradle build
-cp -r ${PARENTDIR}/core/chaincode/shim/java/build/libs /root/
+if [ x$ARCH != xx86_64 ]
+then
+    apt-get update && apt-get install openjdk-8-jdk -y
+    echo "FIXME: Java Shim code needs work on ppc64le. Commenting it for now."
+else
+    add-apt-repository ppa:openjdk-r/ppa -y
+    apt-get update && apt-get install openjdk-8-jdk -y
+    update-java-alternatives -s java-1.8.0-openjdk-amd64
+    gradle -q -b ${PARENTDIR}/core/chaincode/shim/java/build.gradle clean
+    gradle -q -b ${PARENTDIR}/core/chaincode/shim/java/build.gradle build
+    cp -r ${PARENTDIR}/core/chaincode/shim/java/build/libs /root/
+fi
diff --git a/images/javaenv/Dockerfile.in b/images/javaenv/Dockerfile.in
index d0ec2df52cc..0cc8ddad39e 100644
--- a/images/javaenv/Dockerfile.in
+++ b/images/javaenv/Dockerfile.in
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-FROM openjdk:8
+FROM hyperledger/fabric-baseimage
 RUN wget https://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-2.12-bin.zip -P /tmp --quiet
 RUN unzip -qo /tmp/gradle-2.12-bin.zip -d /opt && rm /tmp/gradle-2.12-bin.zip
 RUN ln -s /opt/gradle-2.12/bin/gradle /usr/bin
diff --git a/scripts/goUnitTests.sh b/scripts/goUnitTests.sh
index 5b4a05b01c7..37ff314ddb0 100755
--- a/scripts/goUnitTests.sh
+++ b/scripts/goUnitTests.sh
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ GO_LDFLAGS=$2
 
 BASEIMAGE="hyperledger/fabric-peer"
 IMAGE=$BASEIMAGE
+ARCH=`uname -m`
 
 if [ "$TAG" != "" ]
 then
@@ -25,6 +26,13 @@ PKGS=`go list github.com/hyperledger/fabric/... | grep -v /vendor/ | \
 						  grep -v /examples/chaincode/go/asset_management | \
 						  grep -v /examples/chaincode/go/utxo | \
 						  grep -v /examples/chaincode/go/rbac_tcerts_no_attrs` 
+
+if [ x$ARCH == xppc64le -o x$ARCH == xs390x ]
+then
+PKGS=`echo $PKGS | sed  's@'github.com/hyperledger/fabric/core/chaincode/platforms/java/test'@@g'`
+PKGS=`echo $PKGS | sed  's@'github.com/hyperledger/fabric/core/chaincode/platforms/java'@@g'`
+fi
+
 echo "DONE!"
 
 echo -n "Starting peer.."
diff --git a/scripts/provision/host.sh b/scripts/provision/host.sh
index e5a8aa22f48..b77e487be71 100755
--- a/scripts/provision/host.sh
+++ b/scripts/provision/host.sh
@@ -39,7 +39,11 @@ apt-get install --yes tcl tclx tcllib
 apt-get install --yes npm
 
 # Install JDK 1.8 for Java chaincode development
+ARCH=`uname -m`
+if [ x$ARCH == xx86_64 ]
+then
 add-apt-repository ppa:openjdk-r/ppa -y
+fi
 apt-get update && apt-get install openjdk-8-jdk -y
 
 # Download Gradle and create sym link
@@ -54,5 +58,8 @@ curl -fsSL http://apache.osuosl.org/maven/maven-3/$MAVEN_VERSION/binaries/apache
     | tar -xzC /usr/share/maven --strip-components=1 \
   && ln -s /usr/share/maven/bin/mvn /usr/bin/mvn
 
+if [ x$ARCH == xx86_64 ]
+then
 # Set the default JDK to 1.8
 update-java-alternatives -s java-1.8.0-openjdk-amd64
+fi