diff --git a/packer/provision/basebuild.sh b/packer/provision/basebuild.sh
index 35f05c4..76a0204 100644
--- a/packer/provision/basebuild.sh
+++ b/packer/provision/basebuild.sh
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@
         gitpython \
         graphviz \
         isort \
+        linkchecker \
         pexpect \
         pylint \
         pyyaml \
@@ -94,6 +95,10 @@
         typings
         # end of npm install list
 
+    # ubuntu 16.04 installs the node binary as /usr/bin/nodejs, which breaks
+    # tools that expect it to be named just `node`. Symlink it to fix
+    ln -s /usr/bin/nodejs /usr/local/bin/node
+
     # install repo
     REPO_SHA256SUM="394d93ac7261d59db58afa49bb5f88386fea8518792491ee3db8baab49c3ecda"
     curl -o /tmp/repo 'https://gerrit.opencord.org/gitweb?p=repo.git;a=blob_plain;f=repo;hb=refs/heads/stable'