diff --git a/build_for_portal.py b/build_for_portal.py
index 586e6bbec5bd..357bff6388ad 100644
--- a/build_for_portal.py
+++ b/build_for_portal.py
@@ -37,10 +37,11 @@
 EXTERNAL_LINK_RE = re.compile(
     "[\./]*([\w_-]+)/[\w_/-]*?([\w_.-]*\.(?:html|adoc))", re.DOTALL
 )
-INCLUDE_RE = re.compile("include::(.*?)\[(.*?)\]", re.M)
+INCLUDE_RE = re.compile(r"^include::(.*?)\[(.*?)\]", re.M)
 IFDEF_RE = re.compile(r"^if(n?)def::(.*?)\[\]", re.M)
 ENDIF_RE = re.compile(r"^endif::(.*?)\[\]\r?\n", re.M)
 COMMENT_CONTENT_RE = re.compile(r"^^////$.*?^////$", re.M | re.DOTALL)
+COMMENTED_XREF_RE = re.compile(r"^//.*xref:.*$")
 TAG_CONTENT_RE = re.compile(
     r"//\s+tag::(.*?)\[\].*?// end::(.*?)\[\]", re.M | re.DOTALL
 )
@@ -625,10 +626,19 @@ def scrub_file(info, book_src_dir, src_file, tag=None, cwd=None):
     # data that it finds.
     # modified 20/Aug/2024 to process https links which are preceded
     # by an added directory (happens with hugeBook)
+    # Modified 05/Dec/2024 to allow for https links from openshift-kni repo.
 
+    # Check for both allowed URL patterns
     https_pos = base_src_file.find("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openshift/")
-    if https_pos >=0:
-        base_src_file = base_src_file[https_pos:]
+    https_kni_pos = base_src_file.find("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openshift-kni/")
+
+    if https_pos >= 0 or https_kni_pos >= 0:
+        # Ensure we start from the correct URL (either github or openshift-kni)
+        if https_kni_pos >= 0:
+            base_src_file = base_src_file[https_kni_pos:]
+        else:
+            base_src_file = base_src_file[https_pos:]
+
         try:
             response = requests.get(base_src_file)
             if response:
@@ -656,6 +666,9 @@ def scrub_file(info, book_src_dir, src_file, tag=None, cwd=None):
         if line.strip() == "" and not content_found:
             continue
 
+        # Replace lines containing commented xrefs
+        line = COMMENTED_XREF_RE.sub("// Removed commented line that contains an xref", line)
+
         # Check if the line should be included in the output
         if include_line(line):
             content_found = True
diff --git a/makeBuild.py b/makeBuild.py
index 9abe8bc9ee44..60a5b7b25df4 100755
--- a/makeBuild.py
+++ b/makeBuild.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 # uses a refactored Aura script which is an opensource port of ccutil
 
+import argparse
 import sys
 import os
 import logging
@@ -19,6 +20,15 @@
 
 #print(branch)
 
+def setup_parser():
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+        formatter_class=argparse.ArgumentDefaultsHelpFormatter
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--include-api-book", help="Include the rest_api book in the build", action="store_true", default=False,
+    )
+    return parser
+
 # function to convert XML ids to HTML 4 compatible ids from ccutil
 def _fix_ids_for_html4(tree):
     """
@@ -122,6 +132,10 @@ def build_book(book):
 # Initialize logging
 cli.init_logging(False, False)
 
+
+parser = setup_parser()
+args = parser.parse_args()
+
 for distro in os.listdir("drupal-build"):
 
     print("---------------------------------------")
@@ -136,7 +150,9 @@ def build_book(book):
             continue
         # rest api book is a pain and doesn't convert well
         if book == "rest_api":
-            continue
+            # Exclude the REST API book unless we explicitly require it
+            if not args.include_api_book:
+                continue
 
         if os.path.exists(os.path.join("drupal-build", distro, book,"hugeBook.flag")):
             for secondary_book in os.listdir(os.path.join("drupal-build", distro, book)):