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]