diff --git a/makefiles/consts.mk b/makefiles/consts.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d6f71e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/makefiles/consts.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+# -*- makefile -*-
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Copyright 2022-2023 Open Networking Foundation (ONF) and the ONF Contributors
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+#
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2022-2023 Open Networking Foundation (ONF) and the ONF Contributors
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+# ONF.makefile.version = 1.0
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+$(if $(DEBUG),$(warning ENTER))
+
+# include makefiles/constants.mk
+export dot          :=.
+export null         :=#
+export space        := $(null) $(null)
+export quote-single := $(null)"$(null)#"
+export quote-double := $(null)'$(null)#'
+
+# [DEBUG] make {target} HIDE=
+HIDE        ?= @
+
+env-clean      ?= /usr/bin/env --ignore-environment
+xargs-n1       := xargs -0 -t -n1 --no-run-if-empty
+xargs-n1-clean := $(env-clean) $(xargs-n1)
+
+## -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+## Default shell:
+##   o set -e            enable error checking
+##   o set -u            report undefined errors
+##   o set -o pipefail   propogate shell pipeline failures.
+## -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+SHELL ?= /bin/bash
+have-shell-bash := $(filter bash,$(subst /,$(space),$(SHELL)))
+$(if $(have-shell-bash),$(null),\
+  $(eval export SHELL := bash -euo pipefail))
+
+export SHELL ?= bash -euo pipefail
+
+$(if $(DEBUG),$(warning LEAVE))
+
+# [EOF]