diff --git a/charmhelpers/contrib/hahelpers/apache.py b/charmhelpers/contrib/hahelpers/apache.py
index a8527047..605a1bec 100644
--- a/charmhelpers/contrib/hahelpers/apache.py
+++ b/charmhelpers/contrib/hahelpers/apache.py
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ def get_ca_cert():
 def retrieve_ca_cert(cert_file):
     cert = None
     if os.path.isfile(cert_file):
-        with open(cert_file, 'r') as crt:
+        with open(cert_file, 'rb') as crt:
             cert = crt.read()
     return cert
 
diff --git a/charmhelpers/fetch/ubuntu.py b/charmhelpers/fetch/ubuntu.py
index 910e96a6..653d58f1 100644
--- a/charmhelpers/fetch/ubuntu.py
+++ b/charmhelpers/fetch/ubuntu.py
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ ARCH_TO_PROPOSED_POCKET = {
     'x86_64': PROPOSED_POCKET,
     'ppc64le': PROPOSED_PORTS_POCKET,
     'aarch64': PROPOSED_PORTS_POCKET,
+    's390x': PROPOSED_PORTS_POCKET,
 }
 CLOUD_ARCHIVE_URL = "http://ubuntu-cloud.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu"
 CLOUD_ARCHIVE_KEY_ID = '5EDB1B62EC4926EA'