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]