diff --git a/modules/utils/bitbake.py b/modules/utils/bitbake.py
index 5514c98..bd670d0 100644
--- a/modules/utils/bitbake.py
+++ b/modules/utils/bitbake.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 #
 
 import os
+import shutil
 from logging import debug as D
 import sys
 import re
@@ -123,8 +124,14 @@ class Bitbake(object):
             env = "TCLIBC={}".format(libc)
         else:
             env = ""
-        bb.process.run("bitbake-config-build enable-fragment machine/{}".format(machine))
-        return self._cmd(recipe, env_var=env)
+        if shutil.which("bitbake-config-build"):
+            bb.process.run("bitbake-config-build enable-fragment machine/{}".format(machine))
+            env_var = env if env else None
+        else:
+            D("bitbake-config-build not found, using MACHINE env var")
+            env_var = "MACHINE={}{}".format(machine,
+                                            " " + env if env else "")
+        return self._cmd(recipe, env_var=env_var)
 
     def dependency_graph(self, package_list):
         return self._cmd(package_list, "-g")
diff --git a/upgrade-helper.py b/upgrade-helper.py
index 40f31c4..9954a66 100755
--- a/upgrade-helper.py
+++ b/upgrade-helper.py
@@ -714,6 +714,18 @@ class UniverseUpdater(Updater):
             pkggroups = oe.recipeutils.get_recipe_upgrade_status(layer_recipes)
 
             for group in pkggroups:
+
+                # Scarthgap returns flat tuples from _get_recipe_upgrade_status();
+                # field order: (pn, status, cur_ver, next_ver, maintainer,
+                # revision, no_upgrade_reason) — see oe/recipeutils.py.
+                if isinstance(group, tuple):
+                    assert len(group) == 7, \
+                        "unexpected tuple length %d from get_recipe_upgrade_status" % len(group)
+                    pn, status, cur_ver, next_ver, maintainer, revision, no_upgrade_reason = group
+                    group = [{'pn': pn, 'status': status, 'cur_ver': cur_ver,
+                              'next_ver': next_ver, 'maintainer': maintainer,
+                              'revision': revision, 'no_upgrade_reason': no_upgrade_reason}]
+
                 upgrade_group = []
                 for pkg in group:
                     maintainer = pkg['maintainer']