diff --git a/patches/pkgbuild/coreutils.sh b/patches/pkgbuild/coreutils.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..ea1eafc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/patches/pkgbuild/coreutils.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# coreutils: --without-selinux. The host has libselinux; Arch does not.
+#
+# THE TRAP: the chroot test reported "coreutils links against libselinux",
+# and the obvious reading -- build libselinux next -- is wrong twice over.
+#
+#   $ readelf -d repo/s390x/.../usr/bin/ls | grep NEEDED
+#     (NEEDED) Shared library: [libselinux.so.1]
+#
+# There is no libselinux package in Arch. The clone of it 404s, and
+# gitlab.archlinux.org answers a 404 by asking for a login, which is why the
+# driver log said "could not read Username" rather than "no such project".
+# Arch's own coreutils declares depends=(acl attr glibc gmp libcap openssl)
+# -- no selinux, because Arch's build chroot has no libselinux to find.
+#
+# Ours found one. Ubuntu 25.10 carries libselinux1-dev (it arrives with
+# libmount-dev / libgio-2.0-dev), coreutils' configure probes for
+# selinux/selinux.h unconditionally, and thirteen binaries -- ls, cp, mv,
+# install, id, stat, mkdir, mknod, mkfifo, dir, vdir, chcon, runcon -- came
+# out linked to a library the target rootfs will never contain.
+#
+# Uninstalling the header on the host is not the way out: apt takes
+# libmount-dev, libglib2.0-dev, libcryptsetup-dev and libdevmapper-dev with
+# it, which is what systemd and util-linux still need.
+#
+# So this is not disabling a feature. It is removing a HOST artefact that
+# stage 1 exists to keep out, and the result matches Arch's binary exactly:
+# Arch's coreutils ships neither chcon nor runcon, for this very reason.
+# Losing them converges with Arch, it does not diverge from it.
+#
+# The same probe catches findutils, sed and tar -- each has its own hook --
+# and glibc's makedb, which deliberately does NOT. Nothing in the bootstrap
+# runs makedb, and rebuilding glibc for it would relink the foundation under
+# all sixty-nine other packages. Stage 2 rebuilds glibc in a chroot that has
+# no libselinux, where the problem cannot recur.
+#
+# Only one ./configure in this PKGBUILD (verified), so the anchor is safe.
+set -euo pipefail
+grep -c -- '--with-openssl' PKGBUILD | grep -qx 1 || {
+    echo "coreutils: expected exactly one --with-openssl anchor" >&2; exit 1; }
+sed -i 's|^\(\s*\)--with-openssl$|\1--with-openssl \\\n\1--without-selinux|' PKGBUILD
+grep -q -- '--without-selinux' PKGBUILD || {
+    echo "coreutils: --without-selinux not inserted" >&2; exit 1; }
+echo "coreutils: --without-selinux (Arch has no libselinux; the host does)"
diff --git a/patches/pkgbuild/findutils.sh b/patches/pkgbuild/findutils.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..47a4b54
--- /dev/null
+++ b/patches/pkgbuild/findutils.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# findutils: --without-selinux. Same host artefact as coreutils.
+#
+# THE TRAP: fixing coreutils alone looks like the job is done. It is not.
+#
+#   $ readelf -d repo/s390x/.../usr/bin/find | grep NEEDED
+#     (NEEDED) Shared library: [libselinux.so.1]
+#
+# and stage 2 runs makepkg INSIDE the stage-1 rootfs, where makepkg calls
+# find. A find that will not load is a hard stop, not a cosmetic one.
+#
+# Arch's findutils declares depends=(glibc) and nothing else, because Arch's
+# build chroot has no selinux/selinux.h for gnulib to probe. Ubuntu 25.10
+# does, so ours linked it. patches/pkgbuild/coreutils.sh carries the full
+# account, including why removing the header from the host is not available.
+#
+# One ./configure in this PKGBUILD (verified), so the anchor is unambiguous.
+set -euo pipefail
+grep -c -- '^  \./configure --prefix=/usr$' PKGBUILD | grep -qx 1 || {
+    echo "findutils: expected exactly one bare ./configure --prefix=/usr" >&2; exit 1; }
+sed -i 's|^\(\s*\)\(\./configure --prefix=/usr\)$|\1\2 --without-selinux|' PKGBUILD
+grep -c -- '--without-selinux' PKGBUILD | grep -qx 1 || {
+    echo "findutils: --without-selinux not inserted exactly once" >&2; exit 1; }
+echo "findutils: --without-selinux (Arch has no libselinux; the host does)"
diff --git a/patches/pkgbuild/sed.sh b/patches/pkgbuild/sed.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..450ee8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/patches/pkgbuild/sed.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# sed: --without-selinux. Same host artefact as coreutils.
+#
+#   $ readelf -d repo/s390x/.../usr/bin/sed | grep NEEDED
+#     (NEEDED) Shared library: [libselinux.so.1]
+#
+# sed matters for the same reason find does: every PKGBUILD hook in this
+# repository is a sed, and stage 2 runs them inside the stage-1 rootfs.
+#
+# Arch's sed declares depends=(acl glibc). The full account of why the host
+# supplies a header Arch's build chroot does not is in
+# patches/pkgbuild/coreutils.sh.
+#
+# One ./configure in this PKGBUILD (verified), so the anchor is unambiguous.
+set -euo pipefail
+grep -c -- '^  \./configure --prefix=/usr$' PKGBUILD | grep -qx 1 || {
+    echo "sed: expected exactly one bare ./configure --prefix=/usr" >&2; exit 1; }
+sed -i 's|^\(\s*\)\(\./configure --prefix=/usr\)$|\1\2 --without-selinux|' PKGBUILD
+grep -c -- '--without-selinux' PKGBUILD | grep -qx 1 || {
+    echo "sed: --without-selinux not inserted exactly once" >&2; exit 1; }
+echo "sed: --without-selinux (Arch has no libselinux; the host does)"
diff --git a/patches/pkgbuild/tar.sh b/patches/pkgbuild/tar.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..c36ff71
--- /dev/null
+++ b/patches/pkgbuild/tar.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# tar: --without-selinux. Same host artefact as coreutils.
+#
+#   $ readelf -d repo/s390x/.../usr/bin/tar | grep NEEDED
+#     (NEEDED) Shared library: [libselinux.so.1]
+#
+# This is the one with the sharpest consequence. makepkg extracts every
+# source with tar, so in stage 2 -- which runs makepkg inside the stage-1
+# rootfs -- a tar that will not load stops the entire stage before its first
+# package. Not cosmetic, and not something a later fix can route around.
+#
+# Arch's tar declares depends=(acl glibc). The full account of why the host
+# supplies a header Arch's build chroot does not is in
+# patches/pkgbuild/coreutils.sh.
+#
+# One ./configure in this PKGBUILD (verified), and it carries its own
+# --sbindir/--libexecdir, so the anchor is the whole line rather than the
+# bare form the other three match.
+set -euo pipefail
+grep -c -- '^  \./configure --prefix=/usr --sbindir=/usr/bin --libexecdir=/usr/lib/tar$' PKGBUILD | grep -qx 1 || {
+    echo "tar: expected exactly one ./configure line" >&2; exit 1; }
+sed -i 's|^\(\s*\)\(\./configure --prefix=/usr --sbindir=/usr/bin --libexecdir=/usr/lib/tar\)$|\1\2 --without-selinux|' PKGBUILD
+grep -c -- '--without-selinux' PKGBUILD | grep -qx 1 || {
+    echo "tar: --without-selinux not inserted exactly once" >&2; exit 1; }
+echo "tar: --without-selinux (Arch has no libselinux; the host does)"
diff --git a/scripts/build-stage1.sh b/scripts/build-stage1.sh
index 0aa4e61..fb8e491 100755
--- a/scripts/build-stage1.sh
+++ b/scripts/build-stage1.sh
@@ -48,12 +48,19 @@ STAGE1_PACKAGES=(
     filesystem iana-etc tzdata licenses shadow util-linux
     # Named by the chroot test, not guessed. Installing the repo into a
     # rootfs and entering it turned "does it work?" into a precise list:
-    #   - coreutils links against libselinux, and would not start without it
     #   - libcap needs pam; openssl needs brotli; libarchive needs libxml2
     #   - pacman itself asks for systemd, pacman-mirrorlist and
     #     libmakepkg-dropins
     # Sixty-eight successful builds proved none of this. One chroot did.
-    libselinux pam brotli libxml2 systemd pacman-mirrorlist libmakepkg-dropins
+    #
+    # The chroot also named libselinux, and libselinux is NOT on this line,
+    # because that reading of it was wrong. Arch has no libselinux package at
+    # all -- the clone 404s. What the chroot saw was a HOST artefact: Ubuntu
+    # carries libselinux1-dev, coreutils probes for selinux/selinux.h
+    # unconditionally, and ours came out linked to a library the target will
+    # never contain. The answer is --without-selinux per package, which is
+    # what Arch's own build chroot gets for free by not having the header.
+    pam brotli libxml2 systemd pacman-mirrorlist libmakepkg-dropins
     # And finally the package manager itself, built as an Arch package.
     pacman
 )