diff --git a/elements/debian-upstart/README.md b/elements/debian-upstart/README.md
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/elements/debian-upstart/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+By default Debian will use sysvinit for booting. If you want to experiment
+with Upstart, or have need of it due to a need for upstart jobs, this
+element will build the image with upstart as the init system.
diff --git a/elements/debian-upstart/element-deps b/elements/debian-upstart/element-deps
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+++ b/elements/debian-upstart/element-deps
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+debian
diff --git a/elements/debian-upstart/root.d/05-debian-upstart b/elements/debian-upstart/root.d/05-debian-upstart
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+++ b/elements/debian-upstart/root.d/05-debian-upstart
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+#!/bin/bash
+set -eux
+echo upstart >> ${TARGET_ROOT}/.extra-packages
+echo debian-upstart >> ${TARGET_ROOT}/.distro-name
diff --git a/elements/debian-upstart/root.d/20-debian-fix-upstart-jobs b/elements/debian-upstart/root.d/20-debian-fix-upstart-jobs
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..1ea1eb4b
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+++ b/elements/debian-upstart/root.d/20-debian-fix-upstart-jobs
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -eux
+# Working around bug in Debian cloud-init packages with upstart
+# where startpar will wait forever for these because they are tasks
+# http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=735204
+for sysv_script in cloud-init cloud-init-local cloud-config cloud-final ; do
+    sudo rm -f ${TARGET_ROOT}/etc/rc2.d/??${sysv_script} ${TARGET_ROOT}/etc/init.d/${sysv_script}
+done
+# And working around upstart job bug in Debian where cloud-config will never run
+# http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=735207
+sudo sed -i -e 's/start on .*/start on started rc RUNLEVEL=[2345]/' ${TARGET_ROOT}/etc/init/cloud-config.conf
diff --git a/elements/debian-upstart/root.d/99-cleanup-debian-upstart b/elements/debian-upstart/root.d/99-cleanup-debian-upstart
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..cd029626
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elements/debian-upstart/root.d/99-cleanup-debian-upstart
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+#!/bin/bash
+set -eux
+sudo rm -f ${TARGET_ROOT}/.distro-name ${TARGET_ROOT}/.extra-packages