diff --git a/docker/services/containers-common.yaml b/docker/services/containers-common.yaml
index 57de51684f..caf3ba296a 100644
--- a/docker/services/containers-common.yaml
+++ b/docker/services/containers-common.yaml
@@ -83,6 +83,9 @@ outputs:
               exit 0
           fi
           exit $rc
+      pyshim.sh:
+        mode: "0700"
+        content: { get_file: ../../docker_config_scripts/pyshim.sh }
 
   volumes_base:
     description: Base volume list
diff --git a/docker/services/nova-compute.yaml b/docker/services/nova-compute.yaml
index 71281c6456..0c69810af6 100644
--- a/docker/services/nova-compute.yaml
+++ b/docker/services/nova-compute.yaml
@@ -184,7 +184,10 @@ outputs:
                     USER: {get_param: CephClientUserName}
               owner: nova:nova
               perm: '0600'
-      docker_config_scripts: {get_attr: [NovaComputeCommon, docker_config_scripts]}
+      docker_config_scripts:
+        map_merge:
+          - {get_attr: [ContainersCommon, docker_config_scripts]}
+          - {get_attr: [NovaComputeCommon, docker_config_scripts]}
       docker_config:
         step_3:
           nova_statedir_owner:
@@ -195,7 +198,7 @@ outputs:
             volumes:
               - /var/lib/nova:/var/lib/nova:shared,z
               - /var/lib/docker-config-scripts/:/docker-config-scripts/
-            command: "/docker-config-scripts/nova_statedir_ownership.py"
+            command: "/docker-config-scripts/pyshim.sh /docker-config-scripts/nova_statedir_ownership.py"
         step_4:
           nova_compute:
             image: *nova_compute_image
diff --git a/docker/services/nova-ironic.yaml b/docker/services/nova-ironic.yaml
index f4e85aad85..faff6486f9 100644
--- a/docker/services/nova-ironic.yaml
+++ b/docker/services/nova-ironic.yaml
@@ -101,7 +101,10 @@ outputs:
             - path: /var/log/nova
               owner: nova:nova
               recurse: true
-      docker_config_scripts: {get_attr: [NovaComputeCommon, docker_config_scripts]}
+      docker_config_scripts:
+        map_merge:
+          - {get_attr: [ContainersCommon, docker_config_scripts]}
+          - {get_attr: [NovaComputeCommon, docker_config_scripts]}
       docker_config:
         step_3:
           nova_statedir_owner:
@@ -112,7 +115,7 @@ outputs:
             volumes:
               - /var/lib/nova:/var/lib/nova:shared,z
               - /var/lib/docker-config-scripts/:/docker-config-scripts/
-            command: "/docker-config-scripts/nova_statedir_ownership.py"
+            command: "/docker-config-scripts/pyshim.sh /docker-config-scripts/nova_statedir_ownership.py"
         step_5:
           nova_compute:
             image: *nova_ironic_image
diff --git a/docker_config_scripts/pyshim.sh b/docker_config_scripts/pyshim.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..398218c94d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker_config_scripts/pyshim.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Copyright 2018 Red Hat Inc.
+#
+# 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.
+#
+# Usage: pyshim.sh <script and/or arguments>
+#
+# Unfortunately THT doesn't know which version of python might be in a
+# container so we need this script to be able to try python3 or python2
+# depending on availability.  Since this is a temporary shim until we've
+# fully cut over to python3, we check for the existance of python3 first
+# before falling back to python2. This will help in the transition from
+# python2 based containers to python3.
+
+show_usage() {
+    echo "Usage: pyshim.sh <script and/or arguments>"
+}
+
+if [ $# -lt 1 ]
+then
+    show_usage
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+set -x
+if command -v python3 >/dev/null; then
+    python3 "$@"
+elif command -v python2 >/dev/null; then
+    python2 "$@"
+elif command -v python >/dev/null; then
+    python "$@"
+else
+    echo "ERROR: python is not available!"
+    exit 1
+fi