diff --git a/0512-Make-binutils-optional-when-elfutils-are-available.patch b/0512-Make-binutils-optional-when-elfutils-are-available.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..45ef1e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/0512-Make-binutils-optional-when-elfutils-are-available.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+From f8d2fa4312ba7989e30b60e5f287c91a1f4b7450 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Daniel Molkentin <dmolkentin@suse.com>
+Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2017 15:23:37 +0200
+Subject: [PATCH] Make binutils optional when elfutils are available
+
+Binutils increase the size of initramfs by 36 MB. We only need "strip",
+which exists as eu-strip in elfutils, which in turn is < 1 MB in size.
+
+Note that the tests (TEST-04-FULL-SYSTEMD/test.sh) still depend on
+strip from binutils. It could use sstrip in the future.
+---
+ dracut.sh | 10 +++++++---
+ 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
+
+diff --git a/dracut.sh b/dracut.sh
+index d25da8e3..f4794d1d 100755
+--- a/dracut.sh
++++ b/dracut.sh
+@@ -1624,7 +1624,11 @@ fi
+ 
+ # strip binaries
+ if [[ $do_strip = yes ]] ; then
+-    for p in strip xargs find; do
++    # Prefer strip from elfutils for package size
++    declare strip_cmd=$(command -v eu-strip)
++    test -z "$strip_cmd" && strip_cmd="strip"
++
++    for p in $strip_cmd xargs find; do
+         if ! type -P $p >/dev/null; then
+             dinfo "Could not find '$p'. Not stripping the initramfs."
+             do_strip=no
+@@ -1636,14 +1640,14 @@ if [[ $do_strip = yes ]] && ! [[ $DRACUT_FIPS_MODE ]]; then
+     dinfo "*** Stripping files ***"
+     find "$initdir" -type f \
+         -executable -not -path '*/lib/modules/*.ko' -print0 \
+-        | xargs -r -0 strip -g 2>/dev/null
++        | xargs -r -0 $strip_cmd -g 2>/dev/null
+ 
+     # strip kernel modules, but do not touch signed modules
+     find "$initdir" -type f -path '*/lib/modules/*.ko' -print0 \
+         | while read -r -d $'\0' f || [ -n "$f" ]; do
+         SIG=$(tail -c 28 "$f" | tr -d '\000')
+         [[ $SIG == '~Module signature appended~' ]] || { printf "%s\000" "$f"; }
+-    done | xargs -r -0 strip -g
++    done | xargs -r -0 $strip_cmd -g
+ 
+     dinfo "*** Stripping files done ***"
+ fi
+-- 
+2.12.0
+
diff --git a/dracut.changes b/dracut.changes
index 7ccfaae..b60e6c9 100644
--- a/dracut.changes
+++ b/dracut.changes
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+-------------------------------------------------------------------
+Mon Apr  3 13:30:20 UTC 2017 - daniel.molkentin@suse.com
+
+- Drop binutils dependency in favor of elfutils
+  * add 0512-Make-binutils-optional-when-elfutils-are-available.patch 
+
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Fri Mar 17 10:09:57 UTC 2017 - daniel.molkentin@suse.com
 
diff --git a/dracut.spec b/dracut.spec
index 33c3cb2..814b56e 100644
--- a/dracut.spec
+++ b/dracut.spec
@@ -191,6 +191,7 @@ Patch504:       0504-ibft-fix-boot-flag-check.patch
 Patch505:       0505-Allow-booting-from-degraded-MD-RAID-arrays.patch
 Patch507:       0507-Set-TaskMax-inifinite-for-the-emergency-shell.patch
 Patch508:       0508-90multipath-start-before-local-fs-pre.target.patch
+Patch512:       0512-Make-binutils-optional-when-elfutils-are-available.patch
 
 BuildRequires:  asciidoc
 BuildRequires:  bash
@@ -201,9 +202,9 @@ BuildRequires:  pkgconfig(systemd) >= 219
 Requires:       %{_bindir}/get_kernel_version
 Requires:       bash
 # systemd-sysvinit provides: poweroff, reboot, halt
-Requires:       binutils
 Requires:       coreutils
 Requires:       cpio
+Requires:       elfutils
 Requires:       file
 Requires:       filesystem
 Requires:       findutils
@@ -406,6 +407,7 @@ chmod a+x modules.d/91zipl/install_zipl_cmdline.sh
 %patch509 -p1
 %patch510 -p1
 %patch511 -p1
+%patch512 -p1
 
 %build
 %configure\