diff --git a/build/dockerfiles/rhel.Dockerfile b/build/dockerfiles/rhel.Dockerfile
index fc8051964..c636af19f 100644
--- a/build/dockerfiles/rhel.Dockerfile
+++ b/build/dockerfiles/rhel.Dockerfile
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ ARG LATEST_ONLY=false
 
 # to get all the python deps pre-fetched so we can build in Brew:
 # 1. extract files in the container to your local filesystem
+#    find v3 -type f -exec dos2unix {} \;
 #    CONTAINERNAME="pluginregistrybuilder" && docker build -t ${CONTAINERNAME} . --target=builder --no-cache --squash --build-arg BOOTSTRAP=true
 #    mkdir -p /tmp/root-local/ && docker run -it -v /tmp/root-local/:/tmp/root-local/ ${CONTAINERNAME} /bin/bash -c "cd /root/.local/ && cp -r bin/ lib/ /tmp/root-local/"
 #    pushd /tmp/root-local >/dev/null && sudo tar czf root-local.tgz lib/ bin/ && popd >/dev/null && mv -f /tmp/root-local/root-local.tgz . && sudo rm -fr /tmp/root-local/
@@ -38,30 +39,8 @@ ARG LATEST_ONLY=false
 # enable rhel 7 or 8 content sets (from Brew) to resolve jq as rpm
 COPY ./build/dockerfiles/content_sets_epel7.repo /etc/yum.repos.d/
 
-RUN microdnf install -y findutils bash wget yum gzip tar jq python3-six python3-pip && microdnf -y clean all && \
-    # install yq (depends on jq and pyyaml - if jq and pyyaml not already installed, this will try to compile it)
-    if [[ -f /tmp/root-local.tgz ]] || [[ ${BOOTSTRAP} == "true" ]]; then \
-      mkdir -p /root/.local; tar xf /tmp/root-local.tgz -C /root/.local/; rm -fr /tmp/root-local.tgz;  \
-      /usr/bin/pip3.6 install --user yq jsonschema; \
-      # could be installed in /opt/app-root/src/.local/bin or /root/.local/bin
-      for d in /opt/app-root/src/.local /root/.local; do \
-        if [[ -d ${d} ]]; then \
-          cp ${d}/bin/yq ${d}/bin/jsonschema /usr/local/bin/; \
-          pushd ${d}/lib/python3.6/site-packages/ >/dev/null; \
-            cp -r PyYAML* xmltodict* yaml* yq* jsonschema* /usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages/; \
-          popd >/dev/null; \
-        fi; \
-      done; \
-      chmod -c +x /usr/local/bin/*; \
-    else \
-      /usr/bin/pip3.6 install yq jsonschema; \
-    fi && \
-    ln -s /usr/bin/python3.6 /usr/bin/python && \
-    # test install worked
-    for d in python yq jq jsonschema; do echo -n "$d: "; $d --version; done
-
-# for debugging only
-# RUN microdnf install -y util-linux && whereis python pip jq yq && python --version && jq --version && yq --version
+COPY ./build/dockerfiles/rhel.install.sh /tmp
+RUN /tmp/rhel.install.sh && rm -f /tmp/rhel.install.sh
 
 ################# 
 # PHASE TWO: configure registry image
@@ -122,7 +101,7 @@ FROM builder AS offline-builder
 # built in Brew, use tarball in lookaside cache; built locally, comment this out
 # COPY v3.tgz /tmp/v3.tgz
 
-# to get all the python deps pre-fetched so we can build in Brew:
+# to get all the cached vsix files pre-fetched so we can use them in Brew:
 # 1. extract files in the container to your local filesystem
 #    CONTAINERNAME="pluginregistryoffline" && docker build -t ${CONTAINERNAME} . --target=offline-builder --no-cache --squash --build-arg BOOTSTRAP=true
 #    mkdir -p /tmp/pr-res/ && docker run -it -v /tmp/pr-res/:/tmp/pr-res/ ${CONTAINERNAME} /bin/bash -c "cd /build/v3/ && cp -r ./* /tmp/pr-res/"
diff --git a/build/dockerfiles/rhel.install.sh b/build/dockerfiles/rhel.install.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..12f820c18
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/dockerfiles/rhel.install.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2012-2018 Red Hat, Inc.
+# This program and the accompanying materials are made
+# available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License 2.0
+# which is available at https://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-2.0/
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: EPL-2.0
+#
+
+microdnf install -y findutils bash wget yum gzip tar jq python3-six python3-pip && microdnf -y clean all && \
+# install yq (depends on jq and pyyaml - if jq and pyyaml not already installed, this will try to compile it)
+if [[ -f /tmp/root-local.tgz ]] || [[ ${BOOTSTRAP} == "true" ]]; then \
+    mkdir -p /root/.local; tar xf /tmp/root-local.tgz -C /root/.local/; rm -fr /tmp/root-local.tgz;  \
+    /usr/bin/pip3.6 install --user yq jsonschema; \
+    # could be installed in /opt/app-root/src/.local/bin or /root/.local/bin
+    for d in /opt/app-root/src/.local /root/.local; do \
+    if [[ -d ${d} ]]; then \
+        cp ${d}/bin/yq ${d}/bin/jsonschema /usr/local/bin/; \
+        pushd ${d}/lib/python3.6/site-packages/ >/dev/null; \
+        cp -r PyYAML* xmltodict* yaml* yq* jsonschema* /usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages/; \
+        popd >/dev/null; \
+    fi; \
+    done; \
+    chmod -c +x /usr/local/bin/*; \
+else \
+    /usr/bin/pip3.6 install yq jsonschema; \
+fi && \
+ln -s /usr/bin/python3.6 /usr/bin/python && \
+# test install worked
+for d in python yq jq jsonschema; do echo -n "$d: "; $d --version; done
+
+# for debugging only
+# microdnf install -y util-linux && whereis python pip jq yq && python --version && jq --version && yq --version