[oe] linux recipe selected despite ASSUME_PROVIDED += "virtual/kernel"

[Graham Gower]

Hi,
I wish to build an Angstrom based console-image for mipsel from the
org.openembedded.dev branch. I maintain a kernel for the device but am
not yet ready to integrate this into an OE recipe. The default linux_2.6.30.bb
fails to build for me, thus I wish to not build the kernel at this point
in time.

My local.conf contains the following lines,
STAGING_KERNEL_DIR = "/home/grg/jz/linux"
ASSUME_PROVIDED += "virtual/kernel"

However, when i run 'bitbake console-image the default linux_2.6.30.bb recipe
is still selected and the build procedes to fail.

Is this the correct procedure to avoid building a kernel? If so, what else
could I be doing wrongly?

-Graham