diff --git a/chapter01/changelog.xml b/chapter01/changelog.xml
index b0cce6119..df420da0a 100644
--- a/chapter01/changelog.xml
+++ b/chapter01/changelog.xml
@@ -35,6 +35,33 @@
       </itemizedlist>
     </listitem>
 -->
+    <listitem>
+      <para>2014-12-21</para>
+      <itemizedlist>
+        <listitem>
+          <para>[krejzi] - Updated to systemd-218.</para>
+        </listitem>
+      </itemizedlist>
+    </listitem>
+
+    <listitem>
+      <para>2014-12-13</para>
+      <itemizedlist>
+        <listitem>
+          <para>[bdubbs] - Update to linux-3.18. Fixes 
+          <ulink url="&lfs-ticket-root;3717">#3717</ulink>.</para>
+        </listitem>
+        <listitem>
+          <para>[bdubbs] - Update to file-5.21. Fixes 
+          <ulink url="&lfs-ticket-root;3718">#3718</ulink>.</para>
+        </listitem>
+        <listitem>
+          <para>[bdubbs] - Update to XML-Parser-2.43. Fixes 
+          <ulink url="&lfs-ticket-root;3720">#3720</ulink>.</para>
+        </listitem>
+      </itemizedlist>
+    </listitem>
+
     <listitem>
       <para>2014-12-03</para>
       <itemizedlist>
diff --git a/chapter01/whatsnew.xml b/chapter01/whatsnew.xml
index f77f8a7b9..74372f529 100644
--- a/chapter01/whatsnew.xml
+++ b/chapter01/whatsnew.xml
@@ -215,9 +215,9 @@
     <!--<listitem>
       <para>Vim &vim-version;</para>
     </listitem>-->
-    <!--<listitem>
+    <listitem>
       <para>XML-Parser-&xml-parser-version;</para>
-    </listitem>-->
+    </listitem>
     <listitem>
       <para>XZ-Utils &xz-version;</para>
     </listitem>
@@ -257,10 +257,6 @@
       <para>&systemd-compat-patch;</para>
     </listitem>
 
-    <listitem>
-      <para>&systemd-fixes-patch;</para>
-    </listitem>
-
   </itemizedlist>
 
   <itemizedlist>
@@ -280,7 +276,7 @@
     </listitem>
 
     <listitem>
-      <para>readline-216-compat-1.patch</para>
+      <para>systemd-216-compat-1.patch</para>
     </listitem>
 
   </itemizedlist>
diff --git a/chapter03/patches.xml b/chapter03/patches.xml
index ff6272e63..7ac8ef056 100644
--- a/chapter03/patches.xml
+++ b/chapter03/patches.xml
@@ -147,14 +147,6 @@
         <para>MD5 sum: <literal>&systemd-compat-patch-md5;</literal></para>
       </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
-
-    <varlistentry>
-      <term>Systemd Upstream Fixes Patch - <token>&systemd-fixes-patch-size;</token>:</term>
-      <listitem>
-        <para>Download: <ulink url="&patches-root;&systemd-fixes-patch;"/></para>
-        <para>MD5 sum: <literal>&systemd-fixes-patch-md5;</literal></para>
-      </listitem>
-    </varlistentry>
 <!--
     <varlistentry>
       <term>Tar Manpage Patch - <token>&tar-manpage-patch-size;</token>:</term>
diff --git a/chapter06/systemd.xml b/chapter06/systemd.xml
index 332952597..1aa8bb416 100644
--- a/chapter06/systemd.xml
+++ b/chapter06/systemd.xml
@@ -66,11 +66,6 @@ EOF</userinput></screen>
 
 <screen><userinput remap="pre">patch -Np1 -i ../&systemd-compat-patch;</userinput></screen>
 
-    <para>Also, apply the following patch to fix various bugs that have been
-    addressed upstream:</para>
-
-<screen><userinput remap="pre">patch -Np1 -i ../&systemd-fixes-patch;</userinput></screen>
-
     <para>Prepare systemd for compilation:</para>
 
 <screen><userinput remap="configure">./configure --prefix=/usr                                           \
@@ -190,9 +185,12 @@ EOF</userinput></screen>
     -e "s:test-strv\$(EXEEXT) ::g"           \
     -i Makefile</userinput></screen>
 
-    <para>To test the results, issue:</para>
+    <para>Since the testsuite largely depends on the
+    host system kernel configuration, other tests
+    besides the ones that were previously disabled
+    may also fail. To test the results, issue:</para>
 
-<screen><userinput remap="test">make check</userinput></screen>
+<screen><userinput remap="test">make -k check</userinput></screen>
 
     <para>Install the package:</para>
 
diff --git a/packages.ent b/packages.ent
index e9c3e0cf0..98b572be0 100644
--- a/packages.ent
+++ b/packages.ent
@@ -159,10 +159,10 @@
 <!ENTITY expect-ch5-du "4.3 MB">
 <!ENTITY expect-ch5-sbu "0.1 SBU">
 
-<!ENTITY file-version "5.20">
-<!ENTITY file-size "709 KB">
+<!ENTITY file-version "5.21">
+<!ENTITY file-size "715 KB">
 <!ENTITY file-url "ftp://ftp.astron.com/pub/file/file-&file-version;.tar.gz">
-<!ENTITY file-md5 "5d5e13eb3e0e13839da869a31790faf2">
+<!ENTITY file-md5 "549fe96e09041eabece9de2bb28ef923">
 <!ENTITY file-home "http://www.darwinsys.com/file/">
 <!ENTITY file-ch5-du "11.8 MB">
 <!ENTITY file-ch5-sbu "0.1 SBU">
@@ -374,13 +374,13 @@
 <!ENTITY libtool-ch6-sbu "11.2 SBU">
 
 <!ENTITY linux-major-version "3">
-<!ENTITY linux-minor-version "17">
-<!ENTITY linux-patch-version "4">
-<!ENTITY linux-version "&linux-major-version;.&linux-minor-version;.&linux-patch-version;">
-<!--<!ENTITY linux-version "&linux-major-version;.&linux-minor-version;">-->
-<!ENTITY linux-size "78,455 KB">
+<!ENTITY linux-minor-version "18">
+<!ENTITY linux-patch-version "x">
+<!--<!ENTITY linux-version "&linux-major-version;.&linux-minor-version;.&linux-patch-version;">-->
+<!ENTITY linux-version "&linux-major-version;.&linux-minor-version;">
+<!ENTITY linux-size "79,038 KB">
 <!ENTITY linux-url "&kernel;linux/kernel/v&linux-major-version;.x/linux-&linux-version;.tar.xz">
-<!ENTITY linux-md5 "ce49828adecf8908eb3a9ffc5b860d44">
+<!ENTITY linux-md5 "9e854df51ca3fef8bfe566dbd7b89241">
 <!ENTITY linux-home "http://www.kernel.org/">
 <!-- measured for 3.9.0 / gcc-4.8.0 on x86_64 : minimum is
  allnoconfig extended for a hopefully-bootable build on desktop machine,
@@ -525,13 +525,13 @@
 <!ENTITY shadow-ch6-du "42 MB">
 <!ENTITY shadow-ch6-sbu "0.2 SBU">
 
-<!ENTITY systemd-version "217">
-<!ENTITY systemd-size    "3,608 KB">
+<!ENTITY systemd-version "218">
+<!ENTITY systemd-size    "3,696 KB">
 <!ENTITY systemd-url     "http://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/systemd-&systemd-version;.tar.xz">
-<!ENTITY systemd-md5     "e68dbff3cc19f66e341572d9fb2ffa89">
+<!ENTITY systemd-md5     "4e2c511b0a7932d7fc9d79822273aac6">
 <!ENTITY systemd-home    "http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/">
-<!ENTITY systemd-ch6-du  "666 MB">
-<!ENTITY systemd-ch6-sbu "2.0 SBU">
+<!ENTITY systemd-ch6-du  "725 MB">
+<!ENTITY systemd-ch6-sbu "1.8 SBU">
 
 <!ENTITY tar-version "1.28">
 <!ENTITY tar-size "1,921 KB">
@@ -587,10 +587,10 @@
 <!ENTITY vim-ch6-du "109 MB">
 <!ENTITY vim-ch6-sbu "1.3 SBU">
 
-<!ENTITY xml-parser-version "2.42_01">
-<!ENTITY xml-parser-size "236 KB">
+<!ENTITY xml-parser-version "2.43">
+<!ENTITY xml-parser-size "232 KB">
 <!ENTITY xml-parser-url "http://cpan.metacpan.org/authors/id/T/TO/TODDR/XML-Parser-&xml-parser-version;.tar.gz">
-<!ENTITY xml-parser-md5 "a4650aebcc464bb91113c2c356da8210">
+<!ENTITY xml-parser-md5 "2c9ca46832d8e7578bcda99eba3a47f1">
 <!ENTITY xml-parser-home "https://github.com/chorny/XML-Parser">
 <!ENTITY xml-parser-ch6-du "2.0 MB">
 <!ENTITY xml-parser-ch6-sbu "less than 0.1 SBU">
diff --git a/patches.ent b/patches.ent
index 746209f75..5f80c58a8 100644
--- a/patches.ent
+++ b/patches.ent
@@ -70,12 +70,8 @@
 <!ENTITY readline-fixes-patch-size "8 KB">
 
 <!ENTITY systemd-compat-patch "systemd-&systemd-version;-compat-1.patch">
-<!ENTITY systemd-compat-patch-md5 "2331a8bda7c37d6c3439d5ca7a86a75b">
-<!ENTITY systemd-compat-patch-size "8 KB">
-
-<!ENTITY systemd-fixes-patch "systemd-&systemd-version;-upstream_fixes-1.patch">
-<!ENTITY systemd-fixes-patch-md5 "9b06388a5b812ba89e11167a10595570">
-<!ENTITY systemd-fixes-patch-size "32 KB">
+<!ENTITY systemd-compat-patch-md5 "eb9f302cb72595c9011300a1b28f1d1a">
+<!ENTITY systemd-compat-patch-size "12 KB">
 
 <!--
 <!ENTITY tar-manpage-patch "tar-&tar-version;-manpage-1.patch">