diff --git a/makefiles/patches/help.mk b/makefiles/patches/help.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ce459fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/makefiles/patches/help.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+# -*- makefile -*-
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Copyright 2017-2022 Open Networking Foundation
+#
+# 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.
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+ifdef VERBOSE
+  help :: help-patches
+else
+  help ::
+	@echo
+	@echo "[PATCHES] - helper on the road to python 3.10+ based testing"
+	@echo '  see also: help-patches'
+endif
+
+help-patches:
+	@echo
+	@echo "[PATCHES] - helper on the road to python 3.10+ based testing"
+	@echo "  patch-apply          Apply patches to the virtualenv directory"
+	@echo "  patch-create"
+	@echo "  patch-gather         Gather a list of potential patch sources"
+	@echo "  patch-init           Clone the virtualenv directory for patch creation."
+
+
+
+
+help-trailer ::
+	@echo "[SEE ALSO] patches-help"
+
+help-verbose:
+	$(HIDE)$(MAKE) --no-print-directory help VERBOSE=1
+
+# [EOF]
diff --git a/makefiles/patches/include.mk b/makefiles/patches/include.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1c0c869
--- /dev/null
+++ b/makefiles/patches/include.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+# -*- makefile -*-
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Copyright 2022 Open Networking Foundation
+#
+# 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.
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+include $(MAKEDIR)/patches/help.mk
+
+patch-gather-args += --exclude=Makefile
+patch-gather-args += --exclude-dir=vault
+patch-gather-args += --exclude-dir=makefiles
+patch-gather-args += --exclude-dir=staging
+patch-gather-args += --exclude-dir=patches
+
+# patch-gather-args += -e 'from collections import'
+patch-gather-args += '-e' 'from collections import Mapping'
+patch-gather-args += '-e' 'from collections import MutableMapping'
+
+VENV_NAME   ?= $(error $(MAKE) VENV_NAME= is required)
+PATCH_PATH  ?= $(error $(MAKE) PATCH_PATH= is required)
+
+## -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+## -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+patch-gather:
+	grep -r $(patch-gather-args)
+
+## -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+## -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+patch-diff:
+	$(HIDE)diff -qr staging $(VENV_NAME) \
+	    | awk '{print "# diff -Naur "$$2" "$$4}' \
+	    | tee $@.log
+
+## -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+## -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+patch-create:
+	mkdir -p patches/$(PATCH_PATH)
+	diff -Naur staging/$(PATCH_PATH) $(VENV_NAME)/$(PATCH_PATH) | tee patches/$(PATCH_PATH)/patch
+	exit 1
+
+## -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+## -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+patch-init:
+	find "$(VENV_NAME)" -name '__pycache__' -type d -print0 \
+	    | xargs -I'{}' --null --no-run-if-empty $(RM) -r {}
+	mkdir -p staging
+	rsync -rv --checksum "$(VENV_NAME)/." "staging/."
+	@echo "Modify files beneath staging/ to create a patch source"
+
+# [SEE ALSO]
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# https://bobbyhadz.com/blog/python-importerror-cannot-import-name-mapping-from-collections
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# [EOF]