diff --git a/xCAT-genesis-builder/debuild-xcat-genesis-base b/xCAT-genesis-builder/debuild-xcat-genesis-base
index 39ed5d4e8..665d10f70 100755
--- a/xCAT-genesis-builder/debuild-xcat-genesis-base
+++ b/xCAT-genesis-builder/debuild-xcat-genesis-base
@@ -30,17 +30,28 @@ alien -d -g -c -k "${RPM_PACKAGE}" || exit 1
 PACKAGE_ARCH="${EXTRACT_DIR%-*}"
 PACKAGE_ARCH="${PACKAGE_ARCH##*-}"
 
-if [[ ${EXTRACT_DIR} =~ -x86_64- ]]
-then
-	rm -rf "${EXTRACT_DIR//x86_64/amd64}"
-	mv "${EXTRACT_DIR}" "${EXTRACT_DIR//x86_64/amd64}"
-	EXTRACT_DIR="${EXTRACT_DIR//x86_64/amd64}"
+# The rpm carries the Genesis target architecture, the deb must carry the Debian architecture.
+# alien copies the rpm name into the deb and writes "_" as "-", so x86_64 arrives as x86-64.
+case "${PACKAGE_ARCH}" in
+x86_64)
+	ALIEN_ARCH="x86-64" ; DEB_ARCH="amd64" ;;
+ppc64|ppc64le)
+	ALIEN_ARCH="${PACKAGE_ARCH}" ; DEB_ARCH="ppc64el" ;;
+*)
+	ALIEN_ARCH="${PACKAGE_ARCH}" ; DEB_ARCH="${PACKAGE_ARCH}" ;;
+esac
 
-	sed -i -e 's/x86-64/amd64/g' "${EXTRACT_DIR}/debian/control"
-	sed -i -e 's/x86-64/amd64/g' "${EXTRACT_DIR}/debian/changelog"
+if [[ "${DEB_ARCH}" != "${PACKAGE_ARCH}" ]]
+then
+	rm -rf "${EXTRACT_DIR//${PACKAGE_ARCH}/${DEB_ARCH}}"
+	mv "${EXTRACT_DIR}" "${EXTRACT_DIR//${PACKAGE_ARCH}/${DEB_ARCH}}"
+	EXTRACT_DIR="${EXTRACT_DIR//${PACKAGE_ARCH}/${DEB_ARCH}}"
+
+	sed -i -e "s/${ALIEN_ARCH}/${DEB_ARCH}/g" "${EXTRACT_DIR}/debian/control"
+	sed -i -e "s/${ALIEN_ARCH}/${DEB_ARCH}/g" "${EXTRACT_DIR}/debian/changelog"
 fi
 
-sed -i -e "/^Description:/i Breaks: xcat-genesis-scripts-${PACKAGE_ARCH//x86_64/amd64} (<< 2.13.10)" "${EXTRACT_DIR}/debian/control"
+sed -i -e "/^Description:/i Breaks: xcat-genesis-scripts-${DEB_ARCH} (<< 2.13.10)" "${EXTRACT_DIR}/debian/control"
 
 cat >"${EXTRACT_DIR}/debian/preinst" <<EOF
 #!/bin/bash
diff --git a/xCAT-test/unit/genesis_base_deb_arch.t b/xCAT-test/unit/genesis_base_deb_arch.t
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6f7e0b701
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xCAT-test/unit/genesis_base_deb_arch.t
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env perl
+# debuild-xcat-genesis-base converts the EL Genesis base rpm to a deb. The rpm name carries the
+# Genesis target architecture, and the deb must carry the Debian architecture: ppc64 becomes
+# ppc64el, x86_64 becomes amd64. An unmapped architecture leaves the deb named after the rpm and
+# makes it break a genesis-scripts package that no repository publishes.
+#
+# The script is driven here with alien and dpkg-buildpackage shadowed by shell functions.
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+
+use File::Temp qw(tempdir);
+use FindBin;
+use Test::More;
+
+my $root   = "$FindBin::Bin/../..";
+my $script = "$root/xCAT-genesis-builder/debuild-xcat-genesis-base";
+BAIL_OUT("debuild-xcat-genesis-base not found at $script") unless -f $script;
+
+my $tmpdir = tempdir(CLEANUP => 1);
+my $driver = "$tmpdir/driver.sh";
+open(my $driver_fh, '>', $driver) or die "open $driver: $!";
+print {$driver_fh} <<'DRIVER';
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# alien names the deb after the rpm: lower case, and "_" written as "-".
+alien() {
+    local rpm="${!#}"
+    local name="${rpm##*/}"
+    name="${name%.rpm}"
+    local dir="${name%%-snap*}"
+    local package="${dir%-*}"
+    package="${package,,}"
+    package="${package//_/-}"
+
+    mkdir -p "${dir}/debian"
+    cat >"${dir}/debian/control" <<CONTROL
+Source: ${package}
+Section: alien
+Priority: extra
+Maintainer: xCAT <xcat-user@lists.sourceforge.net>
+
+Package: ${package}
+Architecture: all
+Description: xCAT genesis base
+CONTROL
+    printf '%s (%s) unstable; urgency=low\n' "${package}" "1.0" \
+        >"${dir}/debian/changelog"
+    printf '#!/usr/bin/make -f\nbinary:\n\t@true\n' >"${dir}/debian/rules"
+    chmod 0755 "${dir}/debian/rules"
+}
+
+cd "${WORK_DIR}" || exit 1
+: >"${RPM_NAME}"
+source "${SCRIPT}" "${RPM_NAME}" >/dev/null 2>&1
+DRIVER
+close($driver_fh) or die "close $driver: $!";
+
+# Convert one rpm name and return the produced source directory and its control file.
+sub convert {
+    my ($name, $rpm) = @_;
+    my $work = "$tmpdir/$name";
+    mkdir $work or die "mkdir $work: $!";
+    local %ENV = (%ENV, SCRIPT => $script, WORK_DIR => $work, RPM_NAME => $rpm);
+    system('bash', $driver) == 0 or return (undef, '');
+    my ($dir) = grep { -d $_ } glob("$work/*");
+    return (undef, '') unless defined $dir && -f "$dir/debian/control";
+    open(my $fh, '<', "$dir/debian/control") or die "read $dir/debian/control: $!";
+    local $/; my $control = <$fh>; close $fh;
+    $dir =~ s{^\Q$work\E/}{};
+    return ($dir, $control);
+}
+
+my %expected = (
+    'xCAT-genesis-base-x86_64-2.13.10-snap202601010000.noarch.rpm' => 'amd64',
+    'xCAT-genesis-base-ppc64-2.13.10-snap202601010000.noarch.rpm'  => 'ppc64el',
+);
+
+for my $rpm (sort keys %expected) {
+    my $arch = $expected{$rpm};
+    my ($dir, $control) = convert($arch, $rpm);
+    BAIL_OUT("debuild-xcat-genesis-base produced no source tree for $rpm")
+      unless defined $dir;
+
+    like($dir, qr/\Q-$arch-\E/, "$rpm builds in a $arch source tree");
+    like($control, qr/^Package:\s*xcat-genesis-base-\Q$arch\E$/m,
+        "$rpm builds the package xcat-genesis-base-$arch");
+    like($control, qr/^Breaks:\s*xcat-genesis-scripts-\Q$arch\E\b/m,
+        "xcat-genesis-base-$arch breaks the genesis scripts of its own architecture");
+}
+
+done_testing();