diff --git a/pkgs/misc/ghostscript/default.nix b/pkgs/misc/ghostscript/default.nix
index 599f25c1a733..e9e9d3f3d90a 100644
--- a/pkgs/misc/ghostscript/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/misc/ghostscript/default.nix
@@ -7,13 +7,13 @@ assert x11Support -> x11 != null;
 assert cupsSupport -> cups != null;
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
-  name = "ghostscript-8.64.0";
+  name = "ghostscript-8.71.1";
 
   builder = ./builder.sh;
 
   src = fetchurl {
     url = "mirror://gnu/ghostscript/gnu-${name}.tar.bz2";
-    sha256 = "0b94vlf03saa8vm9drz1kishh527g0brw2cg3jcy9mgpp764x2v1";
+    sha256 = "0vab9905h6sl5s5miai4vhhwdacjlkxqmykfr42x32sr25wjqgvl";
   };
 
   fonts = [
@@ -32,19 +32,20 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     ++ stdenv.lib.optional x11Support x11
     ++ stdenv.lib.optional cupsSupport cups;
 
-  configureFlags = ''
-    ${if x11Support then "--with-x" else "--without-x"}
-  '';
+  configureFlags =
+    if x11Support then [ "--with-x" ] else [ "--without-x" ];
 
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-fpic";
+  enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
-  patches = [ ./purity.patch ./mkromfs-zlib.patch ./urw-font-files.patch ];
+  CFLAGS = "-fPIC";
+
+  patches = [ ./purity.patch ./urw-font-files.patch ];
 
   doCheck = true;
 
   meta = {
     homepage = http://www.gnu.org/software/ghostscript/;
-    description = "GNU Ghostscript, an PostScript interpreter";
+    description = "GNU Ghostscript, a PostScript interpreter";
 
     longDescription = ''
       Ghostscript is the name of a set of tools that provides (i) an
@@ -55,6 +56,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
       of output drivers for various file formats and printers.
     '';
 
-    license = "GPLv2";
+    license = "GPLv3+";
+
+    platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.all;
+    maintainers = [ stdenv.lib.maintainers.ludo ];
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/misc/ghostscript/mkromfs-zlib.patch b/pkgs/misc/ghostscript/mkromfs-zlib.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index 7583113a9bc0..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/misc/ghostscript/mkromfs-zlib.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-Current makefiles stupidly omit `-lz' when building `mkromfs'.
-
---- gnu-ghostscript-8.64.0/base/unix-aux.mak	2008-05-04 16:34:47.000000000 +0200
-+++ gnu-ghostscript-8.64.0/base/unix-aux.mak	2008-07-17 17:58:20.000000000 +0200
-@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ MKROMFS_OBJS= $(MKROMFS_ZLIB_OBJS) $(GLO
- endif
- 
- $(MKROMFS_XE): $(GLSRC)mkromfs.c $(MKROMFS_COMMON_DEPS) $(MKROMFS_OBJS)
--	$(CCAUX) $(GENOPT) $(CFLAGS) $(I_)$(GLSRCDIR)$(_I) $(I_)$(GLOBJ)$(_I) $(I_)$(ZSRCDIR)$(_I) $(GLSRC)mkromfs.c $(O_)$(MKROMFS_XE) $(MKROMFS_OBJS) -lm $(EXTRALIBS)
-+	$(CCAUX) $(GENOPT) $(CFLAGS) $(I_)$(GLSRCDIR)$(_I) $(I_)$(GLOBJ)$(_I) $(I_)$(ZSRCDIR)$(_I) $(GLSRC)mkromfs.c $(O_)$(MKROMFS_XE) $(MKROMFS_OBJS) -lm $(EXTRALIBS) -lz
- 
- # Query the environment to construct gconfig_.h.
- # The "else true;" is required because Ultrix's implementation of sh -e