diff --git a/DOCKER/Dockerfile b/DOCKER/Dockerfile
index 139fccb1131c90f5e19e79b18788f7aeffd7b936..759e64f643bea027bdadc4f1b94321045e8566a4 100644
--- a/DOCKER/Dockerfile
+++ b/DOCKER/Dockerfile
@@ -34,12 +34,6 @@ WORKDIR $REPO
 RUN go build -o /usr/local/bin/erisdb ./cmd/erisdb && \
   go build -o /usr/local/bin/erisdbss ./cmd/erisdbss
 
-# install chain manager scripts and default mint config
-ENV ECM_PATH /usr/local/lib/ecm/
-RUN mkdir -p $ECM_PATH
-COPY ./DOCKER/chain_* $ECM_PATH
-COPY ./DOCKER/config.toml  $ECM_PATH
-
 # set the repo and install mint-client
 ENV REPO github.com/eris-ltd/mint-client
 ENV BRANCH master
@@ -56,6 +50,12 @@ RUN rm -rf $GOPATH/src/* && \
   unset REPO && \
   unset BRANCH
 
+# install chain manager scripts and default mint config
+ENV ECM_PATH /usr/local/lib/ecm/
+RUN mkdir -p $ECM_PATH
+COPY ./DOCKER/chain_* $ECM_PATH
+COPY ./DOCKER/config.toml  $ECM_PATH
+
 # persist data, set user
 VOLUME /home/$USER/.eris
 WORKDIR /home/$USER/.eris
diff --git a/DOCKER/build.sh b/DOCKER/build.sh
index df919389c150234d0b901527c388e808bb952a3b..059d9579806ccd2c1c4050ee495e0085761ce0dc 100755
--- a/DOCKER/build.sh
+++ b/DOCKER/build.sh
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 base=github.com/eris-ltd/eris-db
 release="0.10"
 repo=$GOPATH/src/$base
-branch=${ERISDB_BUILD_BRANCH:=dockerfixes}
+branch=${ERISDB_BUILD_BRANCH:=develop}
 start=`pwd`
 
 cd $repo
diff --git a/DOCKER/chain_install.sh b/DOCKER/chain_install.sh
index 1969574139cde0a55a3fdc020b5e0644d0ba2e4e..e8d2279010a23d683afb9f97e7a683341e327c03 100755
--- a/DOCKER/chain_install.sh
+++ b/DOCKER/chain_install.sh
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 # get genesis, seed, copy config
 
 # get genesis if not already
-if [ if -e "${CHAIN_DIR}/genesis.json" ]; then
+if [ ! -e "${CHAIN_DIR}/genesis.json" ]; then
 	# etcb chain (given by $NODE_ADDR)
 	REFS_CHAIN_ID=$(mintinfo --node-addr $NODE_ADDR genesis chain_id)
 	ifExit "Error fetching default chain id from $NODE_ADDR"
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ if [ if -e "${CHAIN_DIR}/genesis.json" ]; then
 	# get the genesis.json for a refs chain from the /genesis rpc endpoint
 	# for a different chain, use etcb (ie namereg on the ref chain)
 	if [ "$CHAIN_ID" = "$REFS_CHAIN_ID" ] ; then
-		# grab genesis.json and config
+		# grab genesis.json 
 		mintinfo --node-addr $NODE_ADDR genesis > "${CHAIN_DIR}/genesis.json"
 		ifExit "Error fetching genesis.json from $NODE_ADDR"
 	else 
@@ -32,11 +32,12 @@ fi
 
 # copy in config if not already
 if [ ! -e "${CHAIN_DIR}/config.toml" ]; then
+	echo "laying default config..."
 	cp $ECM_PATH/config.toml "${CHAIN_DIR}/config.toml"
 	ifExit "Error copying config file from $ECM_PATH to $CHAIN_DIR"
 
 	if [ "$SEED_NODE" = "" ]; then
-		SEED_NODE=$NODE_ADDR
+		SEED_NODE=$NODE_HOST
 	fi
 
 	if [ "$HOST_NAME" = "" ]; then
@@ -44,15 +45,16 @@ if [ ! -e "${CHAIN_DIR}/config.toml" ]; then
 	fi
 fi
 
-
 # set seed node and host name
 if [ "$SEED_NODE" != "" ]; then
-	sed -i "s/^\(seeds\s*=\s*\).*\$/\1\"$SEED_NODE\"/" "${CHAIN_DIR}/config.toml"
+	echo "Seed node: $SEED_NODE"
+	# NOTE the NODE_HOST must not have any slashes (no http://)
+	sed -i "s/^\(seeds\s*=\s*\).*\$/\1\"$NODE_HOST\"/" "${CHAIN_DIR}/config.toml"
 	ifExit "Error setting seed node in config.toml"
-	echo "Seed node: ${SEED_NODE}"
 fi
 
 if [ "$HOST_NAME" != "" ]; then
+	echo "Host name: $HOST_NAME"
 	sed -i "s/^\(moniker\s*=\s*\).*\$/\1\"$HOST_NAME\"/" "${CHAIN_DIR}/config.toml"
 	ifExit "Error setting host name in config.toml"
 fi
diff --git a/DOCKER/start.sh b/DOCKER/start.sh
index f3dddd7adf59f458cd6c0e1bddb5e3c6b1647644..dba42aabdbf75c705bbf5943bd9d71b2c48d56e7 100755
--- a/DOCKER/start.sh
+++ b/DOCKER/start.sh
@@ -31,8 +31,11 @@ if [ ! -d "$CHAIN_DIR" ]; then
 fi
 
 # our root chain
+if [ ! $NODE_HOST ]; then
+	NODE_HOST=interblock.io:46657
+fi
 if [ ! $NODE_ADDR ]; then
-	NODE_ADDR=http://interblock.io:46657
+	NODE_ADDR=http://$NODE_HOST
 fi
 
 # where the etcb client scripts are
@@ -44,6 +47,7 @@ fi
 export TMROOT
 export CHAIN_DIR
 export NODE_ADDR
+export NODE_HOST
 export ECM_PATH  # set by Dockerfile