diff --git a/bin/emqx b/bin/emqx
index bde1f0b51..1d0bfa4bf 100755
--- a/bin/emqx
+++ b/bin/emqx
@@ -578,15 +578,14 @@ case "${COMMAND}" in
         "$BINDIR/run_erl" -daemon "$PIPE_DIR" "$RUNNER_LOG_DIR" \
                           "$(relx_start_command)"
 
-        WAIT_TIME=${WAIT_FOR_ERLANG:-15}
+        WAIT_TIME=${EMQX_WAIT_FOR_START:-120}
         if wait_for "$WAIT_TIME" 'relx_nodetool' 'ping'; then
             echo "$EMQX_DESCRIPTION $REL_VSN is started successfully!"
             exit 0
         else
-            echo "$EMQX_DESCRIPTION $REL_VSN failed to start within ${WAIT_TIME} seconds,"
-            echo "see the output of '$0 console' for more information."
-            echo "If you want to wait longer, set the environment variable"
-            echo "WAIT_FOR_ERLANG to the number of seconds to wait."
+            echo "$EMQX_DESCRIPTION $REL_VSN failed to start in ${WAIT_TIME} seconds."
+            echo "Please find more information in erlang.log.N"
+            echo "Or run 'DEBUG=1 $0 console' to have logs printed to console."
             exit 1
         fi
         ;;
@@ -598,13 +597,13 @@ case "${COMMAND}" in
             echoerr "Graceful shutdown failed PID=[$PID]"
             exit 1
         fi
-        WAIT_TIME="${WAIT_FOR_ERLANG_STOP:-60}"
+        WAIT_TIME="${EMQX_WAIT_FOR_STOP:-120}"
         if ! wait_for "$WAIT_TIME" 'is_down' "$PID"; then
             msg="dangling after ${WAIT_TIME} seconds"
             # also log to syslog
             logger -t "${REL_NAME}[${PID}]" "STOP: $msg"
             # log to user console
-            echoerr "stop failed, $msg"
+            echoerr "Stop failed, $msg"
             echo "ERROR: $PID is still around"
             ps -p "$PID"
             exit 1
diff --git a/scripts/buildx.sh b/scripts/buildx.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..7c49ce909
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/buildx.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+## This script helps to run docker buildx to build cross-arch/platform packages (linux only)
+## It mounts (not copy) host directory to a cross-arch/platform builder container
+## Make sure the source dir (specified by --src_dir option) is clean before running this script
+
+## NOTE: it requires $USER in docker group
+## i.e. will not work if docker command has to be executed with sudo
+
+## example:
+## ./scripts/buildx.sh --profile emqx --pkgtype zip --arch arm64 --builder ghcr.io/emqx/emqx-builder/4.4-4:24.1.5-3-debian10
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+help() {
+    echo
+    echo "-h|--help:           To display this usage information"
+    echo "--profile <PROFILE>: EMQ X profile to build, e.g. emqx, emqx-edge"
+    echo "--pkgtype zip|pkg:   Specify which package to build, zip for .zip and pkg for .rpm or .deb"
+    echo "--arch amd64|arm64:  Target arch to build the EMQ X package for"
+    echo "--src_dir <SRC_DIR>: EMQ X source ode in this dir, default to PWD"
+    echo "--builder <BUILDER>: Builder image to pull"
+    echo "                     E.g. ghcr.io/emqx/emqx-builder/4.4-4:24.1.5-3-debian10"
+}
+
+while [ "$#" -gt 0 ]; do
+    case $1 in
+    -h|--help)
+        help
+        exit 0
+        ;;
+    --src_dir)
+        SRC_DIR="$2"
+        shift 2
+        ;;
+    --profile)
+        PROFILE="$2"
+        shift 2
+        ;;
+    --pkgtype)
+        PKGTYPE="$2"
+        shift 2
+        ;;
+    --builder)
+        BUILDER="$2"
+        shift 2
+        ;;
+    --arch)
+        ARCH="$2"
+        shift 2
+        ;;
+    *)
+      echo "WARN: Unknown arg (ignored): $1"
+      shift
+      continue
+      ;;
+  esac
+done
+
+if [ -z "${PROFILE:-}" ] || [ -z "${PKGTYPE:-}" ] || [ -z "${BUILDER:-}" ] || [ -z "${ARCH:-}" ]; then
+    help
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+if [ "$PKGTYPE" != 'zip' ] && [ "$PKGTYPE" != 'pkg' ]; then
+    echo "Bad --pkgtype option, should be zip or pkg"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+cd "${SRC_DIR:-.}"
+
+PKG_VSN="${PKG_VSN:-$(./pkg-vsn.sh)}"
+OTP_VSN_SYSTEM=$(echo "$BUILDER" | cut -d ':' -f2)
+PKG_NAME="${PROFILE}-${PKG_VSN}-otp${OTP_VSN_SYSTEM}-${ARCH}"
+
+docker info
+docker run --rm --privileged tonistiigi/binfmt:latest --install "${ARCH}"
+docker run -i --rm \
+    -v "$(pwd)":/emqx \
+    --workdir /emqx \
+    --platform="linux/$ARCH" \
+    -e EMQX_NAME="$PROFILE" \
+    "$BUILDER" \
+    bash -euc "make ${PROFILE}-${PKGTYPE} && .ci/build_packages/tests.sh $PKG_NAME $PKGTYPE"
diff --git a/scripts/start-two-nodes-in-docker.sh b/scripts/start-two-nodes-in-docker.sh
index e0526c26f..45942076f 100755
--- a/scripts/start-two-nodes-in-docker.sh
+++ b/scripts/start-two-nodes-in-docker.sh
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@ docker run -d -t --restart=always --name "$NODE1" \
   --net "$NET" \
   -e EMQX_NODE_NAME="emqx@$NODE1" \
   -e EMQX_NODE_COOKIE="$COOKIE" \
-  -e WAIT_FOR_ERLANG=60 \
   -p 18083:18083 \
   -v "$PROJ_DIR"/_build/emqx/rel/emqx:/built \
   "$IMAGE" sh -c 'cp -r /built /emqx && /emqx/bin/emqx console'
@@ -46,7 +45,6 @@ docker run -d -t --restart=always --name "$NODE2" \
   --net "$NET" \
   -e EMQX_NODE_NAME="emqx@$NODE2" \
   -e EMQX_NODE_COOKIE="$COOKIE" \
-  -e WAIT_FOR_ERLANG=60 \
   -p 18084:18083 \
   -v "$PROJ_DIR"/_build/emqx/rel/emqx:/built \
   "$IMAGE" sh -c 'cp -r /built /emqx && /emqx/bin/emqx console'