diff --git a/sdk/config/ccardimx28js/local.conf.sample b/sdk/config/ccardimx28js/local.conf.sample
index 0d8d6315f..a7adde741 100644
--- a/sdk/config/ccardimx28js/local.conf.sample
+++ b/sdk/config/ccardimx28js/local.conf.sample
@@ -19,11 +19,17 @@
 #
 #BB_NUMBER_THREADS ?= "4"
 #
+# Default to setting automatically based on cpu count
+BB_NUMBER_THREADS ?= "${@oe.utils.cpu_count()}"
+#
 # The second option controls how many processes make should run in parallel when
 # running compile tasks:
 #
 #PARALLEL_MAKE ?= "-j 4"
 #
+# Default to setting automatically based on cpu count
+PARALLEL_MAKE ?= "-j ${@oe.utils.cpu_count()}"
+#
 # For a quad-core machine, BB_NUMBER_THREADS = "4", PARALLEL_MAKE = "-j 4" would
 # be appropriate for example.
 
@@ -132,9 +138,9 @@ PACKAGE_CLASSES ?= "package_ipk"
 #
 # SDK/ADT target architecture
 #
-# This variable specified the architecture to build SDK/ADT items for and means
+# This variable specifies the architecture to build SDK/ADT items for and means
 # you can build the SDK packages for architectures other than the machine you are
-# running the build on (i.e. building i686 packages on an x86_64 host._
+# running the build on (i.e. building i686 packages on an x86_64 host).
 # Supported values are i686 and x86_64
 #SDKMACHINE ?= "i686"
 
@@ -237,6 +243,17 @@ BB_DISKMON_DIRS = "\
 #file://.* http://someserver.tld/share/sstate/PATH;downloadfilename=PATH \n \
 #file://.* file:///some/local/dir/sstate/PATH"
 
+
+#
+# Qemu configuration
+#
+# By default qemu will build with a builtin VNC server where graphical output can be
+# seen. The two lines below enable the SDL backend too. This assumes there is a
+# libsdl library available on your build system.
+PACKAGECONFIG_pn-qemu-native = "sdl"
+ASSUME_PROVIDED += "libsdl-native"
+
+
 # CONF_VERSION is increased each time build/conf/ changes incompatibly and is used to
 # track the version of this file when it was generated. This can safely be ignored if
 # this doesn't mean anything to you.
diff --git a/sdk/config/ccimx51js/local.conf.sample b/sdk/config/ccimx51js/local.conf.sample
index 55241251e..62c0f7139 100644
--- a/sdk/config/ccimx51js/local.conf.sample
+++ b/sdk/config/ccimx51js/local.conf.sample
@@ -19,11 +19,17 @@
 #
 #BB_NUMBER_THREADS ?= "4"
 #
+# Default to setting automatically based on cpu count
+BB_NUMBER_THREADS ?= "${@oe.utils.cpu_count()}"
+#
 # The second option controls how many processes make should run in parallel when
 # running compile tasks:
 #
 #PARALLEL_MAKE ?= "-j 4"
 #
+# Default to setting automatically based on cpu count
+PARALLEL_MAKE ?= "-j ${@oe.utils.cpu_count()}"
+#
 # For a quad-core machine, BB_NUMBER_THREADS = "4", PARALLEL_MAKE = "-j 4" would
 # be appropriate for example.
 
@@ -132,9 +138,9 @@ PACKAGE_CLASSES ?= "package_ipk"
 #
 # SDK/ADT target architecture
 #
-# This variable specified the architecture to build SDK/ADT items for and means
+# This variable specifies the architecture to build SDK/ADT items for and means
 # you can build the SDK packages for architectures other than the machine you are
-# running the build on (i.e. building i686 packages on an x86_64 host._
+# running the build on (i.e. building i686 packages on an x86_64 host).
 # Supported values are i686 and x86_64
 #SDKMACHINE ?= "i686"
 
@@ -237,6 +243,17 @@ BB_DISKMON_DIRS = "\
 #file://.* http://someserver.tld/share/sstate/PATH;downloadfilename=PATH \n \
 #file://.* file:///some/local/dir/sstate/PATH"
 
+
+#
+# Qemu configuration
+#
+# By default qemu will build with a builtin VNC server where graphical output can be
+# seen. The two lines below enable the SDL backend too. This assumes there is a
+# libsdl library available on your build system.
+PACKAGECONFIG_pn-qemu-native = "sdl"
+ASSUME_PROVIDED += "libsdl-native"
+
+
 # CONF_VERSION is increased each time build/conf/ changes incompatibly and is used to
 # track the version of this file when it was generated. This can safely be ignored if
 # this doesn't mean anything to you.
diff --git a/sdk/config/ccimx53js/local.conf.sample b/sdk/config/ccimx53js/local.conf.sample
index 9b061b8b8..dd93a492f 100644
--- a/sdk/config/ccimx53js/local.conf.sample
+++ b/sdk/config/ccimx53js/local.conf.sample
@@ -19,11 +19,17 @@
 #
 #BB_NUMBER_THREADS ?= "4"
 #
+# Default to setting automatically based on cpu count
+BB_NUMBER_THREADS ?= "${@oe.utils.cpu_count()}"
+#
 # The second option controls how many processes make should run in parallel when
 # running compile tasks:
 #
 #PARALLEL_MAKE ?= "-j 4"
 #
+# Default to setting automatically based on cpu count
+PARALLEL_MAKE ?= "-j ${@oe.utils.cpu_count()}"
+#
 # For a quad-core machine, BB_NUMBER_THREADS = "4", PARALLEL_MAKE = "-j 4" would
 # be appropriate for example.
 
@@ -132,9 +138,9 @@ PACKAGE_CLASSES ?= "package_ipk"
 #
 # SDK/ADT target architecture
 #
-# This variable specified the architecture to build SDK/ADT items for and means
+# This variable specifies the architecture to build SDK/ADT items for and means
 # you can build the SDK packages for architectures other than the machine you are
-# running the build on (i.e. building i686 packages on an x86_64 host._
+# running the build on (i.e. building i686 packages on an x86_64 host).
 # Supported values are i686 and x86_64
 #SDKMACHINE ?= "i686"
 
@@ -237,6 +243,17 @@ BB_DISKMON_DIRS = "\
 #file://.* http://someserver.tld/share/sstate/PATH;downloadfilename=PATH \n \
 #file://.* file:///some/local/dir/sstate/PATH"
 
+
+#
+# Qemu configuration
+#
+# By default qemu will build with a builtin VNC server where graphical output can be
+# seen. The two lines below enable the SDL backend too. This assumes there is a
+# libsdl library available on your build system.
+PACKAGECONFIG_pn-qemu-native = "sdl"
+ASSUME_PROVIDED += "libsdl-native"
+
+
 # CONF_VERSION is increased each time build/conf/ changes incompatibly and is used to
 # track the version of this file when it was generated. This can safely be ignored if
 # this doesn't mean anything to you.
diff --git a/sdk/config/ccimx6adpt/local.conf.sample b/sdk/config/ccimx6adpt/local.conf.sample
index 36eea3256..b9a2a188d 100644
--- a/sdk/config/ccimx6adpt/local.conf.sample
+++ b/sdk/config/ccimx6adpt/local.conf.sample
@@ -19,11 +19,17 @@
 #
 #BB_NUMBER_THREADS ?= "4"
 #
+# Default to setting automatically based on cpu count
+BB_NUMBER_THREADS ?= "${@oe.utils.cpu_count()}"
+#
 # The second option controls how many processes make should run in parallel when
 # running compile tasks:
 #
 #PARALLEL_MAKE ?= "-j 4"
 #
+# Default to setting automatically based on cpu count
+PARALLEL_MAKE ?= "-j ${@oe.utils.cpu_count()}"
+#
 # For a quad-core machine, BB_NUMBER_THREADS = "4", PARALLEL_MAKE = "-j 4" would
 # be appropriate for example.
 
@@ -132,9 +138,9 @@ PACKAGE_CLASSES ?= "package_ipk"
 #
 # SDK/ADT target architecture
 #
-# This variable specified the architecture to build SDK/ADT items for and means
+# This variable specifies the architecture to build SDK/ADT items for and means
 # you can build the SDK packages for architectures other than the machine you are
-# running the build on (i.e. building i686 packages on an x86_64 host._
+# running the build on (i.e. building i686 packages on an x86_64 host).
 # Supported values are i686 and x86_64
 #SDKMACHINE ?= "i686"
 
@@ -237,6 +243,17 @@ BB_DISKMON_DIRS = "\
 #file://.* http://someserver.tld/share/sstate/PATH;downloadfilename=PATH \n \
 #file://.* file:///some/local/dir/sstate/PATH"
 
+
+#
+# Qemu configuration
+#
+# By default qemu will build with a builtin VNC server where graphical output can be
+# seen. The two lines below enable the SDL backend too. This assumes there is a
+# libsdl library available on your build system.
+PACKAGECONFIG_pn-qemu-native = "sdl"
+ASSUME_PROVIDED += "libsdl-native"
+
+
 # CONF_VERSION is increased each time build/conf/ changes incompatibly and is used to
 # track the version of this file when it was generated. This can safely be ignored if
 # this doesn't mean anything to you.
diff --git a/sdk/mkproject.sh b/sdk/mkproject.sh
index 284cbfbf6..ffdc15279 100755
--- a/sdk/mkproject.sh
+++ b/sdk/mkproject.sh
@@ -71,17 +71,12 @@ do_mkproject() {
 
 	# Customize project if just created
 	if [ -z "${MKP_OLD_PROJECT}" ]; then
-		NCPU="$(grep -c processor /proc/cpuinfo)"
 		chmod 644 ${MKP_PROJECTPATH}/conf/bblayers.conf ${MKP_PROJECTPATH}/conf/local.conf
 		sed -i  -e "s,##DIGIBASE##,${MKP_SCRIPTPATH}/sources,g" ${MKP_PROJECTPATH}/conf/bblayers.conf
-		sed -i  -e "/^#BB_NUMBER_THREADS ?=/cBB_NUMBER_THREADS ?= \"${NCPU}\"" \
-			-e "/^#PARALLEL_MAKE ?=/cPARALLEL_MAKE ?= \"-j ${NCPU}\"" \
-			${MKP_PROJECTPATH}/conf/local.conf
 		if [ -n "${MKP_VARIANT+x}" ]; then
 			sed -i -e "/^MACHINE_VARIANT =/cMACHINE_VARIANT = \"${MKP_VARIANT}\"" \
 				${MKP_PROJECTPATH}/conf/local.conf
 		fi
-		unset NCPU
 	fi
 }