diff --git a/core/systemd/PKGBUILD b/core/systemd/PKGBUILD
index 8d40ca8b5..c26539b97 100644
--- a/core/systemd/PKGBUILD
+++ b/core/systemd/PKGBUILD
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ pkgname=('systemd' 'libsystemd' 'systemd-sysvcompat')
 # Can be from either systemd or systemd-stable
 _commit='f58e62cbbc1c2842881a2a6ab9beda7bcb044a30'
 pkgver=238.133
-pkgrel=2
+pkgrel=4
 arch=('x86_64')
 url="https://www.github.com/systemd/systemd"
 makedepends=('acl' 'cryptsetup' 'docbook-xsl' 'gperf' 'lz4' 'xz' 'pam' 'libelf'
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ makedepends=('acl' 'cryptsetup' 'docbook-xsl' 'gperf' 'lz4' 'xz' 'pam' 'libelf'
 options=('strip')
 validpgpkeys=('63CDA1E5D3FC22B998D20DD6327F26951A015CC4'  # Lennart Poettering <lennart@poettering.net>
               '5C251B5FC54EB2F80F407AAAC54CA336CFEB557E') # Zbigniew Jędrzejewski-Szmek <zbyszek@in.waw.pl>
-source=(# fragment is latest tag for source verification, final checkout in prepare()
+source=(# fragment is latest tag for source verification, final merge in prepare()
         "git+https://github.com/systemd/systemd-stable#tag=v${pkgver%.*}?signed"
         "git+https://github.com/systemd/systemd#tag=v${pkgver%.*}?signed"
         '0001-Use-Arch-Linux-device-access-groups.patch'
@@ -58,14 +58,14 @@ sha512sums=('SKIP'
             'c416e2121df83067376bcaacb58c05b01990f4614ad9de657d74b6da3efa441af251d13bf21e3f0f71ddcb4c9ea658b81da3d915667dc5c309c87ec32a1cb5a5'
             '5a1d78b5170da5abe3d18fdf9f2c3a4d78f15ba7d1ee9ec2708c4c9c2e28973469bc19386f70b3cf32ffafbe4fcc4303e5ebbd6d5187a1df3314ae0965b25e75'
             'b90c99d768dc2a4f020ba854edf45ccf1b86a09d2f66e475de21fe589ff7e32c33ef4aa0876d7f1864491488fd7edb2682fc0d68e83a6d4890a0778dc2d6fe19'
-            '462ed39bd5c90168079956a402abafe8f0910882e6876b165a2c27af73833d0cad1be9cdbcb3549b34652ea86e5d0dba044946a38797bd533fdd1f5a0083f63b'
-            '46f93725bc94381300535737fd0186a3c096fa83661179eab0c450c7b164a87d9a5dd9abcf6ae98bdeb4bf50a4ba4f1944769948c236e4814f166ff03b0ee177'
+            '6b82386fc20619eefa911cd9cdac8efbd0c7137bba4955e8ae75a0ea378d19dbfccc1f7bde6684f03e5f2badefa4abf20623153d88a170d14499167319586db7'
+            '5a6b6beef8c31c79018884d948de840f4d3dfb07d9a87081ebf65e2b8fe595bc8c96dbd7742920ccf948c233213ed0026abc913650cefd77ad90c6f8c89bddb8'
             '4cff2ebd962e26e2f516d8b4ac45c839dbfa54dd0588b423c224a328b9f7c62306ca7b2f6cb55240c564caf9972d5bcd2e0efaf2de49d64729aeb3bc1560c9eb'
             '872de70325e9798f0b5a77e991c85bd2ab6de24d9b9ba4e35002d2dd5df15f8b30739a0042a624776177ffc14a838cde7ee98622016ed41df3efda9a659730b2'
             '471342b8d0e05533908cda5d6a906050a51e3181beda1239e91d717029ee40a9eaed714996a445417d87c4e31b7f8522a665de176077fe0536d538369594996d'
-            '3b11e8956169e6d80eca6e6de1b3e42641454d9d7be48961d400754f2242077d69fb7bfbeb0904f35ce569511036a7c9614a4a1cc3096fba993f46ae65e02895'
-            'bf3225011760695040e9f7be2560348e68e86eac0295f5a17a6f7e3dda7ad7c008812a15904e2071b53d5f8048891602c8a9a18608ac64930f2d8cc4fac2a319'
-            'ff1429a7c88e21d578c25d07e8cd9568577feb5a940fe39a7a815cf8431c57ca951ac6b394c53d2cdeb4efc645572c0b1b670a48cafcc405db41a6602b548e35'
+            'da783e3bfc6469b92dee4064a13e2b427520d3d96b57c95a4e07aaca3e844d95210a8b16122b022080f5452d65096f274dd1c1467725bbdb2e40ef304b78774a'
+            '08a590d08043a21f30f04252164b94df972b1ff1022a0469d6aef713e14484a3a037cce290a2a582851e6fac3e64add69d6cc8fc130bbeeaea08626ebf3e1763'
+            '577e33a1c50b4b41157a67f64162b035dd0c4a541e19cee55a100048bdb50cb2c82852741b1372989a0fe4c4782ba477522747fcc81d72aed99b3db512a86447'
             'e4a9d7607fe93daf1d45270971c8d8455c4bfc2c0bea8bcad05aeb89847edee23cd1a41073a72042622acf417018fe254f5bfc137604fe2c71292680bf67a1c2'
             '209b01b044877cc986757fa4009a92ea98f480306c2530075d153203c3cd2b3afccab6aacc1453dee8857991e04270572f1700310705d7a0f4d5bed27fab8c67')
 
@@ -82,6 +82,8 @@ _backports=(
   '3bc341bee9fc7dfb41a131246b6fb0afd6ff4407'
   # umount: Try unmounting even if remounting read-only failed
   '8645ffd12b3cc7b0292acd9e1d691c4fab4cf409'
+  # shutdown: Reduce log level of unmounts
+  '456b2199f6ef0378da007e71347657bcf83ae465'
   # umount: Don't bother remounting api and ro filesystems read-only
   'e783b4902f387640bba12496936d01e967545c3c'
 
@@ -97,8 +99,9 @@ prepare() {
 
   # add upstream repository for cherry-picking
   git remote add -f upstream ../systemd
-  # checkout the latest stable commit
-  git checkout "$_commit"
+  # merge the latest stable commit (fast-foward only to make sure
+  # the verified tag is in)
+  git merge --ff-only "${_commit}"
 
   local c
   for c in "${_backports[@]}"; do
diff --git a/core/systemd/systemd-binfmt.hook b/core/systemd/systemd-binfmt.hook
index 8e6284bbc..9c31a4b16 100644
--- a/core/systemd/systemd-binfmt.hook
+++ b/core/systemd/systemd-binfmt.hook
@@ -8,4 +8,3 @@ Target = usr/lib/binfmt.d/*.conf
 Description = Registering binary formats...
 When = PostTransaction
 Exec = /usr/share/libalpm/scripts/systemd-hook binfmt
-NeedsTargets
diff --git a/core/systemd/systemd-hook b/core/systemd/systemd-hook
index 4fdee8e47..0a664f2c5 100644
--- a/core/systemd/systemd-hook
+++ b/core/systemd/systemd-hook
@@ -14,23 +14,17 @@ udevd_live() {
   fi
 }
 
-each_conf() {
-  while read -r f; do
-    "$@" "$(basename "$f")"
-  done
-}
-
 case $1 in
   catalog)  /usr/bin/journalctl --update-catalog ;;
   hwdb)     /usr/bin/systemd-hwdb --usr update ;;
   update)   touch -c /usr ;;
-  sysusers) each_conf /usr/bin/systemd-sysusers ;;
-  tmpfiles) each_conf /usr/bin/systemd-tmpfiles --create ;;
+  sysusers) /usr/bin/systemd-sysusers ;;
+  tmpfiles) /usr/bin/systemd-tmpfiles --create ;;
 
   daemon-reload) systemd_live; /usr/bin/systemctl daemon-reload ;;
   udev-reload)   udevd_live;   /usr/bin/udevadm control --reload ;;
-  binfmt)        systemd_live; each_conf /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-binfmt ;;
-  sysctl)        systemd_live; each_conf /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sysctl ;;
+  binfmt)        systemd_live; /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-binfmt ;;
+  sysctl)        systemd_live; /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sysctl ;;
 
   *) echo >&2 "  Invalid operation '$1'"; exit 1 ;;
 esac
diff --git a/core/systemd/systemd-sysctl.hook b/core/systemd/systemd-sysctl.hook
index 348bb0315..aec5ac1b0 100644
--- a/core/systemd/systemd-sysctl.hook
+++ b/core/systemd/systemd-sysctl.hook
@@ -8,4 +8,3 @@ Target = usr/lib/sysctl.d/*.conf
 Description = Applying kernel sysctl settings...
 When = PostTransaction
 Exec = /usr/share/libalpm/scripts/systemd-hook sysctl
-NeedsTargets
diff --git a/core/systemd/systemd-sysusers.hook b/core/systemd/systemd-sysusers.hook
index a7d40057a..9873dd402 100644
--- a/core/systemd/systemd-sysusers.hook
+++ b/core/systemd/systemd-sysusers.hook
@@ -8,4 +8,3 @@ Target = usr/lib/sysusers.d/*.conf
 Description = Creating system user accounts...
 When = PostTransaction
 Exec = /usr/share/libalpm/scripts/systemd-hook sysusers
-NeedsTargets
diff --git a/core/systemd/systemd-tmpfiles.hook b/core/systemd/systemd-tmpfiles.hook
index 06554cde5..df60d8275 100644
--- a/core/systemd/systemd-tmpfiles.hook
+++ b/core/systemd/systemd-tmpfiles.hook
@@ -8,4 +8,3 @@ Target = usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/*.conf
 Description = Creating temporary files...
 When = PostTransaction
 Exec = /usr/share/libalpm/scripts/systemd-hook tmpfiles
-NeedsTargets