diff --git a/devel/linux-kernel/Makefile b/devel/linux-kernel/Makefile
index 95f9e81127c6..55557fa58004 100644
--- a/devel/linux-kernel/Makefile
+++ b/devel/linux-kernel/Makefile
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 # LINUX_MOD_INSTALL_PATH.
 
 PORTNAME=	linux-kernel
-PORTVERSION=	4.7.9
+PORTVERSION=	4.9
 CATEGORIES=	devel
 MASTER_SITES=	KERNEL_ORG/linux/kernel/v4.x
 DISTNAME=	linux-${DISTVERSION}
@@ -109,20 +109,21 @@ INSTALL_TARGET+=	firmware_install
 ## For menuconfig, config, etc.
 HOST_EXTRACFLAGS+=	-DCURSES_LOC='<ncurses.h>' -DKBUILD_NO_NLS=1
 HOST_LOADLIBES+=	-Wl,-rpath=${LOCALBASE}/lib
+LINUX_ARCH?=	x86
+LINUX_SUBARCH?=	x86
 LINUX_INSTALL_PATH?=	${PREFIX}/linux-kernel
 LINUX_MOD_INSTALL_PATH?=	${LINUX_INSTALL_PATH}
 ## Pretend to be Linux (for ACPI)
 KCFLAGS+=		-D_LINUX -D__linux__
 HOST_EXTRACFLAGS+=	-I${BUILD_WRKSRC}/freebsd-build-support/include
-## Make sure ${LOCALBASE}/bin is in the PATH so Linux will build in
-## Poudriere
+## Make sure ${LOCALBASE}/bin is in the PATH for Poudriere/Synth
 MAKE_ENV+=	PATH="${BUILD_WRKSRC}/freebsd-build-support/bin:${LOCALBASE}/bin:${PATH}" \
 		HOST_EXTRACFLAGS="${HOST_EXTRACFLAGS}" \
 		HOST_LOADLIBES="${HOST_LOADLIBES}" \
 		KCFLAGS="${KCFLAGS}" \
 		BASH="${LOCALBASE}/bin/bash"
-#	-j${MAKE_JOBS_NUMBER}
-MAKE_ARGS+=	ARCH="x86" \
+MAKE_ARGS+=	ARCH="${LINUX_ARCH}" \
+		SUBARCH="${LINUX_SUBARCH}" \
 		KCONFIG_CONFIG="${LINUX_KCONFIG}" \
 		INSTALL_PATH="${STAGEDIR}${LINUX_INSTALL_PATH}" \
 		INSTALL_MOD_PATH="${STAGEDIR}${LINUX_MOD_INSTALL_PATH}" \
diff --git a/devel/linux-kernel/distinfo b/devel/linux-kernel/distinfo
index fb5bd8596ff1..eb929b6fb51e 100644
--- a/devel/linux-kernel/distinfo
+++ b/devel/linux-kernel/distinfo
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-TIMESTAMP = 1477009617
-SHA256 (linux-4.7.9.tar.xz) = 0638d52a86079d726817d895ae4030b09e3e649222a9590603dd7771155ae28d
-SIZE (linux-4.7.9.tar.xz) = 90421756
+TIMESTAMP = 1481549641
+SHA256 (linux-4.9.tar.xz) = 029098dcffab74875e086ae970e3828456838da6e0ba22ce3f64ef764f3d7f1a
+SIZE (linux-4.9.tar.xz) = 93192404
diff --git a/devel/linux-kernel/files/patch-Documentation_DocBook_media_Makefile b/devel/linux-kernel/files/patch-Documentation_DocBook_media_Makefile
deleted file mode 100644
index 0adc4d560a0b..000000000000
--- a/devel/linux-kernel/files/patch-Documentation_DocBook_media_Makefile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
---- Documentation/DocBook/media/Makefile.orig	2016-07-27 15:42:34 UTC
-+++ Documentation/DocBook/media/Makefile
-@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
- # Media build rules - Auto-generates media contents/indexes and *.h xml's
- #
- 
--SHELL=/bin/bash
-+SHELL!=which bash
- 
- MEDIA_OBJ_DIR=$(objtree)/Documentation/DocBook/
- MEDIA_SRC_DIR=$(srctree)/Documentation/DocBook/media
diff --git a/devel/linux-kernel/files/patch-Makefile b/devel/linux-kernel/files/patch-Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..1be4100cf1bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/devel/linux-kernel/files/patch-Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+--- Makefile.orig	2016-12-12 13:41:07 UTC
++++ Makefile
+@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ export srctree objtree VPATH
+ # then ARCH is assigned, getting whatever value it gets normally, and
+ # SUBARCH is subsequently ignored.
+ 
+-SUBARCH := $(shell uname -m | sed -e s/i.86/x86/ -e s/x86_64/x86/ \
++SUBARCH := $(shell uname -m | sed -e s/i.86/x86/ -e s/amd64/x86/ \
+ 				  -e s/sun4u/sparc64/ \
+ 				  -e s/arm.*/arm/ -e s/sa110/arm/ \
+ 				  -e s/s390x/s390/ -e s/parisc64/parisc/ \