diff --git a/gnu/local.mk b/gnu/local.mk
index 9602c62f11..5f3d5d2b25 100644
--- a/gnu/local.mk
+++ b/gnu/local.mk
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # GNU Guix --- Functional package management for GNU
-# Copyright © 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
+# Copyright © 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
 # Copyright © 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 Andreas Enge <andreas@enge.fr>
 # Copyright © 2016 Mathieu Lirzin <mthl@gnu.org>
 # Copyright © 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 Mark H Weaver <mhw@netris.org>
@@ -990,7 +990,6 @@ dist_patch_DATA =						\
   %D%/packages/patches/fifo-map-fix-flags-for-gcc.patch		\
   %D%/packages/patches/fifo-map-remove-catch.hpp.patch		\
   %D%/packages/patches/findutils-localstatedir.patch		\
-  %D%/packages/patches/findutils-test-rwlock-threads.patch	\
   %D%/packages/patches/flann-cmake-3.11.patch			\
   %D%/packages/patches/foobillard++-pkg-config.patch		\
   %D%/packages/patches/foomatic-filters-CVE-2015-8327.patch	\
diff --git a/gnu/packages/base.scm b/gnu/packages/base.scm
index e4d7bd7a92..fdb5d839bf 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/base.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/base.scm
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ;;; GNU Guix --- Functional package management for GNU
-;;; Copyright © 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
+;;; Copyright © 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
 ;;; Copyright © 2014, 2019 Andreas Enge <andreas@enge.fr>
 ;;; Copyright © 2012 Nikita Karetnikov <nikita@karetnikov.org>
 ;;; Copyright © 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 Mark H Weaver <mhw@netris.org>
@@ -284,16 +284,15 @@ (define-public diffutils
 (define-public findutils
   (package
    (name "findutils")
-   (version "4.7.0")
+   (version "4.8.0")
    (source (origin
             (method url-fetch)
             (uri (string-append "mirror://gnu/findutils/findutils-"
                                 version ".tar.xz"))
             (sha256
              (base32
-              "16kqz9yz98dasmj70jwf5py7jk558w96w0vgp3zf9xsqk3gzpzn5"))
-            (patches (search-patches "findutils-localstatedir.patch"
-                                     "findutils-test-rwlock-threads.patch"))))
+              "0r3i72hnw0a30khlczi9k2c51aamaj6kfmp5mk3844nrjxz7n4jp"))
+            (patches (search-patches "findutils-localstatedir.patch"))))
    (build-system gnu-build-system)
    (arguments
     `(#:configure-flags (list
diff --git a/gnu/packages/commencement.scm b/gnu/packages/commencement.scm
index 632ee46cea..0713bcb843 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/commencement.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/commencement.scm
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ;;; GNU Guix --- Functional package management for GNU
-;;; Copyright © 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
+;;; Copyright © 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
 ;;; Copyright © 2014 Andreas Enge <andreas@enge.fr>
 ;;; Copyright © 2012 Nikita Karetnikov <nikita@karetnikov.org>
 ;;; Copyright © 2014, 2015, 2017 Mark H Weaver <mhw@netris.org>
@@ -2549,7 +2549,17 @@ (define findutils-boot0
                  ((or "arm-linux" "aarch64-linux")
                   ''("--disable-dependency-tracking"))
                  (_ ''()))
-              ,flags)))))))
+              ,flags))
+           ((#:phases phases '%standard-phases)
+            `(modify-phases ,phases
+               (add-before 'check 'skip-fnmatch-test
+                 (lambda _
+                   ;; 'test-fnmatch' fails when using glibc-mesboot@2.16, due
+                   ;; to incorrect handling of the [:alpha:] regexp character
+                   ;; class.  Ignore it.
+                   (substitute* "gnulib-tests/Makefile"
+                     (("^XFAIL_TESTS =")
+                      "XFAIL_TESTS = test-fnmatch ")))))))))))
 
 (define file
   (package
diff --git a/gnu/packages/patches/findutils-test-rwlock-threads.patch b/gnu/packages/patches/findutils-test-rwlock-threads.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index 3062577c21..0000000000
--- a/gnu/packages/patches/findutils-test-rwlock-threads.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,38 +0,0 @@
-Skip "test-rwlock1" when multithreading is disabled, which is the case
-during bootstrapping on architectures not supported by GNU Mes.
-
-Taken from upstream gnulib:
-https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/gnulib.git/commit/?id=fdff8bd09a7f053381f8bdb107ab5280b7c95959
-
-diff --git a/gnulib-tests/test-rwlock1.c b/gnulib-tests/test-rwlock1.c
---- a/gnulib-tests/test-rwlock1.c
-+++ b/gnulib-tests/test-rwlock1.c
-@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@
- 
- #include <config.h>
- 
-+#if USE_ISOC_THREADS || USE_POSIX_THREADS || USE_ISOC_AND_POSIX_THREADS || USE_WINDOWS_THREADS
-+
- #include "glthread/lock.h"
- 
- #include <errno.h>
-@@ -151,3 +153,18 @@ main ()
-       sleep (1);
-     }
- }
-+
-+#else
-+
-+/* No multithreading available.  */
-+
-+#include <stdio.h>
-+
-+int
-+main ()
-+{
-+  fputs ("Skipping test: multithreading not enabled\n", stderr);
-+  return 77;
-+}
-+
-+#endif
-