diff --git a/sysuser-tools.spec b/sysuser-tools.spec
index c1ec278..0a1962b 100644
--- a/sysuser-tools.spec
+++ b/sysuser-tools.spec
@@ -41,7 +41,11 @@ Group:          System/Packages
 Requires(pre):  (/usr/sbin/useradd or busybox)
 # prefer original shadow over busybox by default
 Suggests:       shadow
-Conflicts:      systemd < 238
+# sysusers2shdow uses sysusers2shadow uses systemd-sysusers if available. And we might pass --replace to it
+# --replace only appeared in systemd 238,so we want to ensure: if we have systemd, it must be recent enough
+# the Requires(pre) statement is to ensure we get it at any moment recent enough, not only at the end of
+# transactions, otherwise upgrades might randomly fail
+Requires(pre):  (systemd >= 238 if systemd)
 Requires:       (systemd >= 238 if systemd)
 
 %description -n sysuser-shadow