diff -Nru whoopsie-preferences-0.16/debian/bzr-builddeb.conf whoopsie-preferences-0.17/debian/bzr-builddeb.conf
--- whoopsie-preferences-0.16/debian/bzr-builddeb.conf	2014-01-06 19:43:04.000000000 +0000
+++ whoopsie-preferences-0.17/debian/bzr-builddeb.conf	1970-01-01 00:00:00.000000000 +0000
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-[BUILDDEB]
-native = True
diff -Nru whoopsie-preferences-0.16/debian/changelog whoopsie-preferences-0.17/debian/changelog
--- whoopsie-preferences-0.16/debian/changelog	2015-04-02 09:43:42.000000000 +0000
+++ whoopsie-preferences-0.17/debian/changelog	2015-05-22 11:58:03.000000000 +0000
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+whoopsie-preferences (0.17) wily; urgency=medium
+
+  * Fall back to /etc/writable for /etc/whoopsie if we need to. Thanks seb128
+    for the initial patch! (LP: #1437633)
+
+ -- Iain Lane <iain.lane@canonical.com>  Fri, 22 May 2015 12:58:03 +0100
+
 whoopsie-preferences (0.16) vivid; urgency=medium
 
   * Only report that we don't report crashes under upstart if the override
diff -Nru whoopsie-preferences-0.16/src/whoopsie-preferences.c whoopsie-preferences-0.17/src/whoopsie-preferences.c
--- whoopsie-preferences-0.16/src/whoopsie-preferences.c	2015-04-02 11:39:20.000000000 +0000
+++ whoopsie-preferences-0.17/src/whoopsie-preferences.c	2015-05-22 11:21:09.000000000 +0000
@@ -23,6 +23,11 @@
 #include <gio/gio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <polkit/polkit.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+
 #include <libwhoopsie/identifier.h>
 
 #include "libwhoopsie-preferences.h"
@@ -34,6 +39,61 @@
 static GKeyFile* key_file = NULL;
 static PolkitAuthority* authority = NULL;
 
+/* Hack for Ubuntu phone: check if path is an existing symlink to
+ * /etc/writable; if it is, update that instead */
+static const char* writable_filename (const char *config) {
+        const char *result = config;
+        struct stat sb;
+        char *linkname = NULL;
+        char *dirname = NULL;
+        char *resolved_path = NULL;
+        ssize_t r;
+        static char realfile_buf[PATH_MAX];
+
+        g_assert (config);
+        g_assert (g_path_is_absolute (config));
+
+        if (lstat (config, &sb) == -1) {
+            goto out;
+        }
+
+        linkname = g_malloc (sb.st_size + 1);
+        if (linkname == NULL) {
+            goto out;
+        }
+
+        r = readlink (config, linkname, sb.st_size + 1);
+
+        if (r < 0 || r > sb.st_size) {
+            goto out;
+        }
+
+        linkname[sb.st_size] = '\0';
+
+        /* Make absolute if relative */
+        if (!g_path_is_absolute (linkname)) {
+            dirname = g_path_get_dirname (config);
+            resolved_path = g_build_filename (
+                    dirname,
+                    linkname,
+                    NULL);
+            g_free (linkname);
+            linkname = resolved_path;
+        }
+
+        if (g_str_has_prefix (linkname, "/etc/writable")) {
+            g_snprintf (realfile_buf, sizeof (realfile_buf), "%s", linkname);
+            result = realfile_buf;
+        }
+
+out:
+        g_debug ("Writable path for %s is %s", config, result);
+
+        g_free (linkname);
+        g_free (dirname);
+        return result;
+}
+
 gboolean
 whoopsie_preferences_load_configuration (void)
 {
@@ -42,7 +102,8 @@
     gboolean ret = TRUE;
     GError* error = NULL;
 
-    if (g_key_file_load_from_file (key_file, CONFIG_PATH,
+    if (g_key_file_load_from_file (key_file,
+                                   writable_filename(CONFIG_PATH),
                                    G_KEY_FILE_KEEP_COMMENTS, NULL)) {
         return TRUE;
     }
@@ -54,7 +115,7 @@
         ret = FALSE;
         goto out;
     }
-    if (!g_file_set_contents (CONFIG_PATH, data, data_size, &error)) {
+    if (!g_file_set_contents (writable_filename(CONFIG_PATH), data, data_size, &error)) {
         g_print ("Could not write configuration: %s\n", error->message);
         ret = FALSE;
         goto out;
@@ -281,7 +342,7 @@
                 g_print ("Could not process configuration: %s\n", error->message);
                 return FALSE;
             }
-            if (!g_file_set_contents (CONFIG_PATH, data, data_size, &error)) {
+            if (!g_file_set_contents (writable_filename(CONFIG_PATH), data, data_size, &error)) {
                 g_print ("Could not write configuration: %s\n", error->message);
                 return FALSE;
             }