diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 2b6c729..8fd95b1 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
-# Copyright 2017-2022 Open Networking Foundation
+# -*- 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.
@@ -11,16 +13,23 @@
 # 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.
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+.DEFAULT_GOAL := sanity-kind
 
 TOP         ?= .
 MAKEDIR     ?= $(TOP)/makefiles
 
-# use bash for pushd/popd, and to fail quickly. virtualenv's activate
-# has undefined variables, so no -u
-SHELL     := bash -e -o pipefail
-
+# Assign early: altered by include
 ROOT_DIR  := $(shell dirname $(realpath $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST))))
 
+##--------------------##
+##---]  INCLUDES  [---##
+##--------------------##
+include $(MAKEDIR)/consts.mk
+include $(MAKEDIR)/help.mk
+include $(MAKEDIR)/patches/include.mk
+
 # Configuration and lists of files for linting/testing
 VERSION   ?= $(shell cat ./VERSION)
 
@@ -702,12 +711,24 @@
 
 # self-test, lint, and setup targets
 
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 # virtualenv for the robot tools
 # VOL-2724 Invoke pip via python3 to avoid pathname too long on QA jobs
+# Verify installation: make lint -or- make test
+# vol-4874 - python_310_migration.sh
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 vst_venv:
+	@echo "============================="
+	@echo "Installing python virtual env"
+	@echo "============================="
 	virtualenv -p python3 $@ ;\
 	source ./$@/bin/activate ;\
 	python -m pip install -r requirements.txt
+	@echo
+	@echo "========================================"
+	@echo "Applying python 3.10.x migration patches"
+	@echo "========================================"
+	./patches/python_310_migration.sh 'apply'
 
 ##----------------##
 ##---]  LINT  [---##
@@ -716,8 +737,6 @@
 
 test: lint
 
-lint: lint-robot lint-python lint-yaml lint-json
-
 # tidy target will be more useful once issue with removing leading comments
 # is resolved: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/3263
 tidy-robot: vst_venv
@@ -735,30 +754,35 @@
 TEST_BASENAME := $(basename $(TEST_SOURCE))
 TEST_DIRS := $(dir $(TEST_SOURCE))
 
-LIB_SOURCE := $(wildcard libraries/*.robot)
+LIB_SOURCE   := $(wildcard libraries/*.robot)
 LIB_BASENAME := $(basename $(LIB_SOURCE))
-LIB_DIRS := $(dir $(LIB_SOURCE))
+LIB_DIRS     := $(sort $(dir $(LIB_SOURCE)))
 
 .PHONY: gendocs lint test
 # In future explore use of --docformat REST - integration w/Sphinx?
 gendocs: vst_venv
 	source ./$</bin/activate ; set -u ;\
 	mkdir -p $@ ;\
-	for dir in ${LIB_DIRS}; do mkdir -p $@/$$dir; done;\
+	mkdir -pv $(LIB_DIRS); \
 	for dir in ${LIB_BASENAME}; do\
-		python -m robot.libdoc --format HTML $$dir.robot $@/$$dir.html ;\
+	    python -m robot.libdoc --format HTML $$dir.robot $@/$$dir.html ;\
 	done ;\
 	for dir in ${TEST_DIRS}; do mkdir -p $@/$$dir; done;\
 	for dir in ${TEST_BASENAME}; do\
 		python -m robot.testdoc $$dir.robot $@/$$dir.html ;\
 	done
 
+## -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+## -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 clean:
-	find . -name output.xml -print
+	$(RM) -r gendocs
+	find . -name output.xml -print # no action performed ?
 
-clean-all: clean
-	rm -rf vst_venv gendocs
+clean-all sterile: clean
+	$(RM) -r vst_venv
 
+## -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+## -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 voltctl-docker-image-build:
 	cd docker && docker build -t opencord/voltctl:local -f Dockerfile.voltctl .
 
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 9e5bb77..7cd5929 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.11.2
+2.11.4
diff --git a/makefiles/consts.mk b/makefiles/consts.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c34d119
--- /dev/null
+++ b/makefiles/consts.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+# -*- 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.
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+null         :=#
+space        :=$(null) $(null)
+dot          :=.
+HIDE         ?=@
+
+# use bash for pusdh/popd and quick failures.
+# virtual env(s) activate has undefined vars so no -u
+#   ^---+ verify this is still true
+export SHELL := bash -e -o pipefail
+
+# [EOF]
diff --git a/makefiles/help.mk b/makefiles/help.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..538d1b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/makefiles/help.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# -*- 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.
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# Parent makefile should include this early so help
+# message will be prefixed by a usage statement.
+help ::
+	@echo "Usage: $(MAKE) [options] [target] ..."
+
+# [EOF]
diff --git a/makefiles/lint.mk b/makefiles/lint.mk
index cb4b0a7..43f4f9f 100644
--- a/makefiles/lint.mk
+++ b/makefiles/lint.mk
@@ -20,8 +20,10 @@
 	@echo "[LINT]"
 
 include $(MAKEDIR)/lint/json.mk
+include $(MAKEDIR)/lint/license/include.mk
 include $(MAKEDIR)/lint/python.mk
 include $(MAKEDIR)/lint/robot.mk
+include $(MAKEDIR)/lint/shell.mk
 include $(MAKEDIR)/lint/yaml.mk
 
 # [EOF]
diff --git a/makefiles/lint/json.mk b/makefiles/lint/json.mk
index 0a11c71..cc9ecfa 100644
--- a/makefiles/lint/json.mk
+++ b/makefiles/lint/json.mk
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-JSON_FILES ?= $(error JSON_FILES= is rqeuired)
+JSON_FILES ?= $(error JSON_FILES= is required)
 
 .PHONY: lint-json
 
diff --git a/makefiles/lint/license/include.mk b/makefiles/lint/license/include.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..61b0cfb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/makefiles/lint/license/include.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+# -*- 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.
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+JSON_FILES ?= $(error JSON_FILES= is required)
+
+.PHONY: lint-license
+
+## -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+## -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+lint : lint-license
+
+lint-license-gargs += --recursive
+
+# ignore: png, xlsx
+# will utf8 be excluded(?)
+lint-license-gargs += --binary-files=without-match
+lint-license-gargs += --files-without-match
+
+# [TODO] license checking accepts either Copy or Apache.
+# [TODO] At least Copyright should be required (both?)
+lint-license-gargs += --extended-regexp
+lint-license-gargs += -e 'Copyright[[:space:]]+[[:digit:]]{4}'
+lint-license-gargs += -e 'Apache License'
+
+# [TODO] --strict, --strict-dates
+
+# TODO: Normalize into .venv for consistent filtering across projects.
+lint-license-gargs += --exclude-dir='.git'
+lint-license-gargs += --exclude-dir='vst_venv'
+lint-license-gargs += --exclude-dir='flog'
+
+lint-license-gargs += --exclude='*.json'
+lint-license-gargs += --exclude='*.md'
+lint-license-gargs += --exclude='*.pyc'
+lint-license-gargs += --exclude='*.xml'
+
+# [FILE(s)]
+lint-license-gargs += --exclude='VERSION'
+
+# [GIT]
+# lint-license-gargs += --exclude='.gitignore'
+# lint-license-gargs += --exclude='.gitreview'
+lint-license-gargs += --exclude='\.*'
+
+# [PYTHON]
+lint-license-gargs += --exclude='requirements.txt'
+
+# [WIP]
+lint-license-gargs += --exclude='patch'
+
+## -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+## -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+lint-license-new:
+	grep $(lint-license-gargs) $(dot)
+
+## -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+## Jenkins job checking logic.
+## -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+lint-license:
+	$(MAKEDIR)/lint/license/license-check.sh
+
+## -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+## -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+help::
+	@echo "  lint-license         Verify sources contain a license block."
+	@echo "  lint-license-new     Grep driven replacement logic."
+
+# [EOF]
diff --git a/makefiles/lint/license/license-check.sh b/makefiles/lint/license/license-check.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..10d3376
--- /dev/null
+++ b/makefiles/lint/license/license-check.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,159 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+# 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.
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# licensecheck.sh
+# checks for copyright/license headers on files
+# excludes filename extensions where this check isn't pertinent
+
+# --strict
+# --strict-dates
+#    see https://github...
+
+## ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+## find: warning: ‘-name’ matches against basenames only, but the given pattern
+## contains a directory separator (‘/’), thus the expression will evaluate to
+## false all the time.  Did you mean ‘-wholename’?
+##
+## [TODO] find and fix plugin script, change --name to --path:
+##    find ! -name "*/docs/*" 
+## ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+## [TODO] see license/include.mk, grep -L will ignore binaries so no need to
+## explicitly filter images, spreadsheets, etc.  Files containing utf-8 are
+## the only question mark.
+## ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+set +e -u -o pipefail
+fail_licensecheck=0
+
+declare -a gargs=()
+gargs+=('--extended-regexp')
+
+# Evil regex -- scripts detecting pattern are excluded from checking.
+gargs+=('-e' 'Apache License')
+
+# Good regex -- no false positives.
+gargs+=('-e' 'Copyright[[:space:]]+[[:digit:]]{4}')
+
+while IFS= read -r -d '' path
+do
+    if ! grep -q "${gargs[@]}" "${path}";
+    then
+	echo "ERROR: $path does not contain License Header"
+	fail_licensecheck=1
+    fi
+done < <(find . -name ".git" -prune -o -type f \
+  ! -iname "*.png" \
+  ! -name "*.asc" \
+  ! -name "*.bat" \
+  ! -name "*.bin" \
+  ! -name "*.cert" \
+  ! -name "*.cfg" \
+  ! -name "*.cnf" \
+  ! -name "*.conf" \
+  ! -name "*.cql" \
+  ! -name "*.crt" \
+  ! -name "*.csar" \
+  ! -name "*.csr" \
+  ! -name "*.csv" \
+  ! -name "*.ctmpl" \
+  ! -name "*.curl" \
+  ! -name "*.db" \
+  ! -name "*.der" \
+  ! -name "*.desc" \
+  ! -name "*.diff" \
+  ! -name "*.dnsmasq" \
+  ! -name "*.do" \
+  ! -name "*.docx" \
+  ! -name "*.eot" \
+  ! -name "*.gif" \
+  ! -name "*.gpg" \
+  ! -name "*.graffle" \
+  ! -name "*.ico" \
+  ! -name "*.iml" \
+  ! -name "*.in" \
+  ! -name "*.inc" \
+  ! -name "*.install" \
+  ! -name "*.j2" \
+  ! -name "*.jar" \
+  ! -name "*.jks" \
+  ! -name "*.jpg" \
+  ! -name "*.json" \
+  ! -name "*.jsonld" \
+  ! -name "*.JSON" \
+  ! -name "*.key" \
+  ! -name "*.list" \
+  ! -name "*.local" \
+  ! -path "*.lock" \
+  ! -name "*.log" \
+  ! -name "*.mak" \
+  ! -name "*.md" \
+  ! -name "*.MF" \
+  ! -name "*.oar" \
+  ! -name "*.p12" \
+  ! -name "*.patch" \
+  ! -name "*.pb.go" \
+  ! -name "*.pb.gw.go" \
+  ! -name "*.pdf" \
+  ! -name "*.pcap" \
+  ! -name "*.pem" \
+  ! -name "*.properties" \
+  ! -name "*.proto" \
+  ! -name "*.protoset" \
+  ! -name "*.pyc" \
+  ! -name "*.repo" \
+  ! -name "*.robot" \
+  ! -name "*.rst" \
+  ! -name "*.rules" \
+  ! -name "*.service" \
+  ! -name "*.svg" \
+  ! -name "*.swp" \
+  ! -name "*.tar" \
+  ! -name "*.tar.gz" \
+  ! -name "*.toml" \
+  ! -name "*.ttf" \
+  ! -name "*.txt" \
+  ! -name "*.woff" \
+  ! -name "*.xproto" \
+  ! -name "*.xtarget" \
+  ! -name "*ignore" \
+  ! -name "*rc" \
+  ! -name "*_pb2.py" \
+  ! -name "*_pb2_grpc.py" \
+  ! -name "Dockerfile" \
+  ! -name "Dockerfile.*" \
+  ! -name "go.mod" \
+  ! -name "go.sum" \
+  ! -name "README" \
+  ! -path "*/vendor/*" \
+  ! -path "*conf*" \
+  ! -path "*git*" \
+  ! -path "*swagger*" \
+  ! -path "*.drawio" \
+  ! -name "*.pb.h" \
+  ! -name "*.pb.cc" \
+  ! -path "*/docs/*" \
+  ! -name 'output.xml' \
+  ! -path "*/vst_venv/*" \
+  ! -name '*#*' \
+  ! -path '*scripts/flog/*' \
+  ! -name '*~' \
+  ! -name 'VERSION' \
+  ! -name 'patch' \
+  -print0 )
+
+exit ${fail_licensecheck}
diff --git a/makefiles/lint/license/license-check.sh.safe b/makefiles/lint/license/license-check.sh.safe
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..cd82c11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/makefiles/lint/license/license-check.sh.safe
@@ -0,0 +1,154 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Copyright 2022 Open Networking Foundation
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# licensecheck.sh
+# checks for copyright/license headers on files
+# excludes filename extensions where this check isn't pertinent
+
+# --strict
+# --strict-dates
+#    see https://github...
+
+## ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+## find: warning: ‘-name’ matches against basenames only, but the given pattern
+## contains a directory separator (‘/’), thus the expression will evaluate to
+## false all the time.  Did you mean ‘-wholename’?
+##
+## [TODO] find and fix plugin script, change --name to --path:
+##    find ! -name "*/docs/*" 
+## ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+set +e -u -o pipefail
+fail_licensecheck=0
+
+declare -a gargs=()
+gargs+=('--extended-regexp')
+gargs+=('-e' 'Copyright[[:space:]]+[[:digit:]]{4}')
+# gargs+=('-e' 'Apache License')
+
+while IFS= read -r -d '' f
+do
+  grep -q "${gargs[@]}" "${f}"
+  rc=$?
+  if [[ $rc != 0 ]]; then
+    echo "ERROR: $f does not contain License Header"
+    fail_licensecheck=1
+  fi
+done < <(find . -name ".git" -prune -o -type f \
+  -name "*.*" \
+  ! -name "*.PNG" \
+  ! -name "*.asc" \
+  ! -name "*.bat" \
+  ! -name "*.bin" \
+  ! -name "*.cert" \
+  ! -name "*.cfg" \
+  ! -name "*.cnf" \
+  ! -name "*.conf" \
+  ! -name "*.cql" \
+  ! -name "*.crt" \
+  ! -name "*.csar" \
+  ! -name "*.csr" \
+  ! -name "*.csv" \
+  ! -name "*.ctmpl" \
+  ! -name "*.curl" \
+  ! -name "*.db" \
+  ! -name "*.der" \
+  ! -name "*.desc" \
+  ! -name "*.diff" \
+  ! -name "*.dnsmasq" \
+  ! -name "*.do" \
+  ! -name "*.docx" \
+  ! -name "*.eot" \
+  ! -name "*.gif" \
+  ! -name "*.gpg" \
+  ! -name "*.graffle" \
+  ! -name "*.ico" \
+  ! -name "*.iml" \
+  ! -name "*.in" \
+  ! -name "*.inc" \
+  ! -name "*.install" \
+  ! -name "*.j2" \
+  ! -name "*.jar" \
+  ! -name "*.jks" \
+  ! -name "*.jpg" \
+  ! -name "*.json" \
+  ! -name "*.jsonld" \
+  ! -name "*.JSON" \
+  ! -name "*.key" \
+  ! -name "*.list" \
+  ! -name "*.local" \
+  ! -path "*.lock" \
+  ! -name "*.log" \
+  ! -name "*.mak" \
+  ! -name "*.md" \
+  ! -name "*.MF" \
+  ! -name "*.mk" \
+  ! -name "*.oar" \
+  ! -name "*.p12" \
+  ! -name "*.patch" \
+  ! -name "*.pb.go" \
+  ! -name "*.pb.gw.go" \
+  ! -name "*.pdf" \
+  ! -name "*.pcap" \
+  ! -name "*.pem" \
+  ! -name "*.png" \
+  ! -name "*.properties" \
+  ! -name "*.proto" \
+  ! -name "*.protoset" \
+  ! -name "*.pyc" \
+  ! -name "*.repo" \
+  ! -name "*.robot" \
+  ! -name "*.rst" \
+  ! -name "*.rules" \
+  ! -name "*.service" \
+  ! -name "*.svg" \
+  ! -name "*.swp" \
+  ! -name "*.tar" \
+  ! -name "*.tar.gz" \
+  ! -name "*.toml" \
+  ! -name "*.ttf" \
+  ! -name "*.txt" \
+  ! -name "*.woff" \
+  ! -name "*.xproto" \
+  ! -name "*.xtarget" \
+  ! -name "*ignore" \
+  ! -name "*rc" \
+  ! -name "*_pb2.py" \
+  ! -name "*_pb2_grpc.py" \
+  ! -name "Dockerfile" \
+  ! -name "Dockerfile.*" \
+  ! -name "go.mod" \
+  ! -name "go.sum" \
+  ! -name "Makefile" \
+  ! -name "Makefile.*" \
+  ! -name "README" \
+  ! -path "*/vendor/*" \
+  ! -path "*conf*" \
+  ! -path "*git*" \
+  ! -path "*swagger*" \
+  ! -path "*.drawio" \
+  ! -name "*.pb.h" \
+  ! -name "*.pb.cc" \
+  ! -path "*/docs/*" \
+  ! -name 'output.xml' \
+  ! -path "*/vst_venv/*" \
+  ! -name '*#*' \
+  ! -name '*~' \
+  -print0 )
+
+exit ${fail_licensecheck}
diff --git a/makefiles/lint/license/license-helper.sh b/makefiles/lint/license/license-helper.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..499f854
--- /dev/null
+++ b/makefiles/lint/license/license-helper.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Copyright 2022 Open Networking Foundation
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+declare -i status=$#
+
+while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
+    arg="$1"; shift
+    echo "ERROR: Detected missing license header: ${arg}"
+done
+
+if [ $status -ne 0 ]; then
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+/bin/true # set $?
+
+# [EOF]
diff --git a/makefiles/lint/python.mk b/makefiles/lint/python.mk
index 5aecd58..86503a7 100644
--- a/makefiles/lint/python.mk
+++ b/makefiles/lint/python.mk
@@ -21,12 +21,11 @@
 
 lint : lint-python
 
-# check deps for format and python3 cleanliness
 lint-python: vst_venv
-	source ./$</bin/activate \
-	    ; set -u \
-	    ; pylint --py3k $(PYTHON_FILES) \
-	    ; flake8 --max-line-length=99 --count $(PYTHON_FILES)
+	-source ./$</bin/activate \
+	    && set -u \
+	    && pylint $(PYTHON_FILES) \
+	    && flake8 --max-line-length=99 --count $(PYTHON_FILES)
 
 help::
 	@echo "  lint-python          Syntax check using pylint and flake8"
diff --git a/makefiles/lint/robot.mk b/makefiles/lint/robot.mk
index ec5579e..9808602 100644
--- a/makefiles/lint/robot.mk
+++ b/makefiles/lint/robot.mk
@@ -32,8 +32,8 @@
 
 lint-robot: vst_venv
 	source ./$</bin/activate \
-	    ; set -u \
-	    ; rflint $(LINT_ARGS) $(ROBOT_FILES)
+	    && set -u \
+	    && rflint $(LINT_ARGS) $(ROBOT_FILES)
 
 help::
 	@echo "  lint-robot           Syntax check robot sources using rflint"
diff --git a/makefiles/lint/shell.mk b/makefiles/lint/shell.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..da92921
--- /dev/null
+++ b/makefiles/lint/shell.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# -*- 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.
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+JSON_FILES ?= $(error JSON_FILES= is required)
+
+.PHONY: lint-shell
+
+lint : lint-shell
+
+lint-shell:
+	shellcheck --version
+	find . \( -name 'staging' -o -name 'vst_venv' \) -prune \
+	    -o -name '*.sh' ! -name 'activate.sh' -print0 \
+	| xargs -0 -n1 shellcheck
+
+help::
+	@echo "  lint-shell           Syntax check bash,bourne,etc sources"
+
+# [EOF]
diff --git a/makefiles/patches/help.mk b/makefiles/patches/help.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3eb387f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/makefiles/patches/help.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# -*- 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.
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+help ::
+	@echo
+	@echo "[PATCHES] - helper on the road to python 3.10+ based testing"
+	@echo "  patch-gather         Gather a list of potential patch sources"
+	@echo "  patch-apply          Apply patches to the virtualenv directory"
+
+# [EOF]
diff --git a/makefiles/patches/include.mk b/makefiles/patches/include.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..58a7c73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/makefiles/patches/include.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# -*- 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'
+
+patch-gather:
+	grep -r $(patch-gather-args)
+
+patch-diff:
+	$(HIDE)diff -qr staging vst_venv \
+	    | awk '{print "# diff -Naur "$$2" "$$4}' \
+	    | tee $@.log
+
+# [SEE ALSO]
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# https://bobbyhadz.com/blog/python-importerror-cannot-import-name-mapping-from-collections
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# [EOF]
diff --git a/patches/README.md b/patches/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a72d09a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/patches/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+# Migration support for python 3.10+
+
+## Intent
+
+Applications of patches will enable local use of newer python versions
+available with a recent OS install or package manager installation.
+Makefile targets will fail out of the box w/o modifying collection imports.
+
+Create new patches as needed to help testing along.
+Eventually this hierarchy can be dismantled once the latest interpreter
+is generally in use.
+
+## patches/
+
+This directory contains patch files that can be directly applied to sources
+in the python virtualenv directory.  Patches are created to support use of
+three python version variants for the robot ramework:
+    python 2x       (deprecated)
+    python >= 3.10  (collections.abc required)
+    python < 3.10   (collections.abc optional)
+
+
+# vst_venv/
+
+Makefile will first create a python virtualenv directory to selectively
+use packages.  After setup patches are applied to venv (as a transition)
+to fully enable support for local interpreter use for newer OS installs.
+
+
+# staging/
+
+The staging directory is used for comparison with the vst_venv directory
+to generate patches.  Populate the directory with a copy of a cleanly
+patched virtual interpreter then modify files benath/ staging to generate
+a patch from.
+
+% make sterile
+% make vst_venv
+% mkdir staging
+% rsync -rv --checksum vst_venv/. staging/.
+[NOTE] Make python 3.10+ migration edits beneath staging as needed
+% make patch-gather
+% make sterile
+% make lint
+
+
+# makefile targets
+
+make patch-gather:
+   * gather a list of potential sources to edit.
+
+make patch-apply:
+   * Gather a list of patch files.
+   * Apply each in turn to sources in the virtualenv directory.
+
+
+# Verify installation
+   * make lint -or- make test
+
+# [EOF]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/patches/lib/python3.10/site-packages/robot/utils/normalizing.py/patch b/patches/lib/python3.10/site-packages/robot/utils/normalizing.py/patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fc9ddd4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/patches/lib/python3.10/site-packages/robot/utils/normalizing.py/patch
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+--- vault/lib/python3.10/site-packages/robot/utils/normalizing.py	2022-11-26 06:59:47.438751606 -0500
++++ vst_venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/robot/utils/normalizing.py	2022-11-26 06:57:29.960476182 -0500
+@@ -13,10 +13,7 @@
+ #  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ #  limitations under the License.
+ 
+-try: # python >= 3.10
+-    from collections.abc import MutableMapping
+-except ImportError: # python 2x
+-    from collections import MutableMapping
++from collections import MutableMapping
+ 
+ from .platform import IRONPYTHON, PY_VERSION, PY3
+ from .robottypes import is_dict_like, is_unicode
diff --git a/patches/lib/python3.10/site-packages/robot/utils/robottypes3.py/patch b/patches/lib/python3.10/site-packages/robot/utils/robottypes3.py/patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..399a769
--- /dev/null
+++ b/patches/lib/python3.10/site-packages/robot/utils/robottypes3.py/patch
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+--- vault/lib/python3.10/site-packages/robot/utils/robottypes3.py	2022-11-26 07:00:17.126386733 -0500
++++ vst_venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/robot/utils/robottypes3.py	2022-11-26 06:57:29.956476232 -0500
+@@ -13,12 +13,7 @@
+ #  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ #  limitations under the License.
+ 
+-try: # python >= 3.10
+-    from collections.abc import Mapping
+-    from collections     import UserString
+-except ImportError: # python 2x
+-    from collections import Mapping, UserString
+-
++from collections import Mapping, UserString
+ from io import IOBase
+ 
+ from .platform import RERAISED_EXCEPTIONS
diff --git a/patches/python_310_migration.sh b/patches/python_310_migration.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..821d2c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/patches/python_310_migration.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+# 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.
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+dst="vst_venv"
+src="staging"
+pat="patches"
+
+declare -a fyls=()
+fyls+=('lib/python3.10/site-packages/robot/utils/normalizing.py')
+fyls+=('lib/python3.10/site-packages/robot/utils/robottypes3.py')
+
+echo
+echo "==========================================================================="
+echo "CMD: $0"
+echo "PWD: $(/bin/pwd)"
+echo "ARGV: $*"
+echo "==========================================================================="
+
+if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then set -- apply; fi
+
+while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
+    opt="$1"; shift
+    case "$opt" in
+	help)
+	    cat <<EOH
+apply  - generate patches from vault source.
+backup - Archive patch directory
+gather - collect potential python files to edit.
+EOH
+	    ;;
+
+	apply)
+	    pushd "$dst" || { echo "pushd $dst failed"; exit 1; }
+	    for fyl in "${fyls[@]}";
+	    do
+		# Conditional install, jenkins may not support interpreter yet.
+		if [ ! -e "$fyl" ]; then
+		    echo "[SKIP] No venv file to patch: $fyl"
+		    continue
+		fi
+		
+		echo "$fyl"
+		patch -R -p1 < "../$pat/$fyl/patch"
+	    done
+	    popd || { echo "popd $dst failed"; exit 1; }
+	    ;;
+
+	backup)
+	    mkdir ~/backups
+	    pushd "$src" || { echo "pushd $dst failed"; exit 1; }
+	    tar czvf ~/backups/vault."$(date '+%Y%m%d%H%M%S')" "${fyls[@]}"
+	    popd || { echo "popd $dst failed"; exit 1; }
+	    ;;
+
+	gather)
+	    set -x
+	    for fyl in "${fyls[@]}";
+	    do
+		patchDir="$pat/$fyl"
+		mkdir -p "$patchDir"
+		diff -Naur "$src/$fyl" "$dst/$fyl" | tee "$pat/$fyl/patch"
+	    done
+	    find "$pat" -print
+	    set +x
+	    ;;
+	
+	*)
+	    echo "ERROR: Unknown action [$opt]"
+	    exit 1
+	    ;;
+    esac
+done
+
+# [EOF]
diff --git a/scripts/makefile b/scripts/makefile
index dafd2be..2847e1e 100644
--- a/scripts/makefile
+++ b/scripts/makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,18 @@
 # -*- 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.
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 null 	    :=#
diff --git a/scripts/which_deployment_owns_device.sh b/scripts/which_deployment_owns_device.sh
index c23961d..55b7a6f 100755
--- a/scripts/which_deployment_owns_device.sh
+++ b/scripts/which_deployment_owns_device.sh
@@ -20,9 +20,9 @@
 for DEPLOY in $(kubectl -n voltha get deploy -o 'jsonpath={.items[*].metadata.name}'); do
     if [[ "$DEPLOY" =~ voltha-rw-core-.* ]]; then
         FOUND=$(kubectl -n voltha logs "deploy/$DEPLOY" 2>/dev/null | grep "$DEVICE_ID" | grep -i ownedbyme | tail -1)
-        if [ ! -z "$FOUND" ]; then
+        if [ -n "$FOUND" ]; then
             OWNED=$(echo "$FOUND" | grep '"owned":true')
-            if [ ! -z "$OWNED" ]; then
+            if [ -n "$OWNED" ]; then
                 CUR_DATE=$(echo "$OWNED" | jq -r .ts)
                 CUR_DEPLOY=$DEPLOY
                 if [ -z "$BEST_DEPLOY" ]; then