diff -Nuar -uar a/Makefile b/Makefile
--- a/Makefile	2021-02-17 13:37:31.000000000 +1100
+++ b/Makefile	2021-03-05 08:44:25.142475386 +1100
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
 	/usr/share/man/man5 \
 	/usr/share/man/man1 \
 	/usr/share/mkinitcpio \
-	/usr/lib/systemd/system/shutdown.target.wants \
 	/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d \
 	/usr/share/libalpm/hooks \
 	/usr/share/libalpm/scripts
@@ -57,10 +56,6 @@
 
 	cp -at $(DESTDIR)/usr/lib/initcpio hooks install
 	install -m644 -t $(DESTDIR)/usr/share/mkinitcpio mkinitcpio.d/*
-	install -m644 systemd/mkinitcpio-generate-shutdown-ramfs.service \
-			$(DESTDIR)/usr/lib/systemd/system/mkinitcpio-generate-shutdown-ramfs.service
-	ln -s ../mkinitcpio-generate-shutdown-ramfs.service \
-			$(DESTDIR)/usr/lib/systemd/system/shutdown.target.wants/mkinitcpio-generate-shutdown-ramfs.service
 	install -m644 tmpfiles/mkinitcpio.conf $(DESTDIR)/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/mkinitcpio.conf
 
 	install -m755 50-mkinitcpio.install $(DESTDIR)/usr/lib/kernel/install.d/50-mkinitcpio.install
diff -Nuar -uar a/PKGBUILD b/PKGBUILD
--- a/PKGBUILD	2021-02-17 13:37:31.000000000 +1100
+++ b/PKGBUILD	2021-03-05 08:45:18.792474234 +1100
@@ -9,9 +9,9 @@
 conflicts=('mkinitcpio')
 provides=("mkinitcpio=$pkgver" "initramfs")
 depends=('mkinitcpio-busybox>=1.19.4-2' 'kmod' 'util-linux>=2.23' 'libarchive' 'coreutils'
-         'awk' 'bash' 'findutils' 'grep' 'filesystem>=2011.10-1' 'systemd' 'zstd')
+         'awk' 'bash' 'findutils' 'grep' 'filesystem>=2011.10-1' 'gzip')
 makedepends=('asciidoc' 'git' 'sed')
-optdepends=('gzip: Use gzip compression for the initramfs image'
+optdepends=('zstd: Use zstd compression for the initramfs image'
             'xz: Use lzma or xz compression for the initramfs image'
             'bzip2: Use bzip2 compression for the initramfs image'
             'lzop: Use lzo compression for the initramfs image'
diff -Nuar -uar a/init_functions b/init_functions
--- a/init_functions	2021-02-17 13:37:31.000000000 +1100
+++ b/init_functions	2021-03-05 08:46:37.065805895 +1100
@@ -298,21 +298,9 @@
         elif bitfield_has_bit "$fsckret" 128; then
             err "fatal error invoking fsck"
         fi
-
-        # ensure that root is going to be mounted rw. Otherwise, systemd
-        # might fsck the device again. Annoy the user so that they fix this.
-        if [ "${rwopt:-ro}" != 'rw' ]; then
-            echo "********************** WARNING **********************"
-            echo "*                                                   *"
-            echo "*  The root device is not configured to be mounted  *"
-            echo "*  read-write! It may be fsck'd again later.        *"
-            echo "*                                                   *"
-            echo "*****************************************************"
-        fi
     fi
 }
 
-# TODO: this really needs to follow the logic of systemd's encode_devnode_name
 # function more closely.
 tag_to_udev_path() {
     awk -v "tag=$1" -v "value=$2" '
diff -Nuar -uar a/mkinitcpio b/mkinitcpio
--- a/mkinitcpio	2021-02-17 13:37:31.000000000 +1100
+++ b/mkinitcpio	2021-03-05 08:47:46.865804396 +1100
@@ -508,7 +508,7 @@
         die 'Unable to write to %s' "$_optgenimg"
     fi
 
-    _optcompress=${_optcompress:-${COMPRESSION:-zstd}}
+    _optcompress=${_optcompress:-${COMPRESSION:-gzip}}
     if ! type -P "$_optcompress" >/dev/null; then
         warning "Unable to locate compression method: %s" "$_optcompress"
         _optcompress=cat
diff -Nuar -uar a/mkinitcpio.conf b/mkinitcpio.conf
--- a/mkinitcpio.conf	2021-02-17 13:37:31.000000000 +1100
+++ b/mkinitcpio.conf	2021-03-05 08:48:30.139136824 +1100
@@ -52,15 +52,15 @@
 HOOKS=(base udev autodetect modconf block filesystems keyboard fsck)
 
 # COMPRESSION
-# Use this to compress the initramfs image. By default, zstd compression
+# Use this to compress the initramfs image. By default, gzip compression
 # is used. Use 'cat' to create an uncompressed image.
-#COMPRESSION="zstd"
 #COMPRESSION="gzip"
 #COMPRESSION="bzip2"
 #COMPRESSION="lzma"
 #COMPRESSION="xz"
 #COMPRESSION="lzop"
 #COMPRESSION="lz4"
+#COMPRESSION="zstd"
 
 # COMPRESSION_OPTIONS
 # Additional options for the compressor