diff --git a/gnu/local.mk b/gnu/local.mk
index 711f38c6b4..acae773269 100644
--- a/gnu/local.mk
+++ b/gnu/local.mk
@@ -617,7 +617,6 @@ dist_patch_DATA =						\
   %D%/packages/patches/flint-ldconfig.patch			\
   %D%/packages/patches/fltk-shared-lib-defines.patch		\
   %D%/packages/patches/fltk-xfont-on-demand.patch		\
-  %D%/packages/patches/fontforge-svg-modtime.patch		\
   %D%/packages/patches/foomatic-filters-CVE-2015-8327.patch	\
   %D%/packages/patches/foomatic-filters-CVE-2015-8560.patch	\
   %D%/packages/patches/freeimage-CVE-2015-0852.patch		\
diff --git a/gnu/packages/fontutils.scm b/gnu/packages/fontutils.scm
index bd74c4d6aa..102def93de 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/fontutils.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/fontutils.scm
@@ -507,26 +507,14 @@ (define-public libuninameslist
 (define-public fontforge
   (package
    (name "fontforge")
-   (version "20160404")
+   (version "20170731")
    (source (origin
             (method url-fetch)
             (uri (string-append
                   "https://github.com/fontforge/fontforge/releases/download/"
-                  version "/fontforge-dist-" version ".tar.gz"))
+                  version "/fontforge-dist-" version ".tar.xz"))
             (sha256 (base32
-                     "1kavnhbkzc1hk6f39fynq9s0haama81ddrbld4b5x60d0dbaawvc"))
-            (modules '((guix build utils)))
-            (snippet
-             '(begin
-               ;; Make builds bit-reproducible by using fixed date strings.
-               (substitute* "configure"
-                 (("^FONTFORGE_MODTIME=.*$")
-                  "FONTFORGE_MODTIME=\"1459819518L\"\n")
-                 (("^FONTFORGE_MODTIME_STR=.*$")
-                  "FONTFORGE_MODTIME_STR=\"20:25 CDT  4-Apr-2016\"\n")
-                 (("^FONTFORGE_VERSIONDATE=.*$")
-                  "FONTFORGE_VERSIONDATE=\"20160404\"\n"))))
-            (patches (list (search-patch "fontforge-svg-modtime.patch")))))
+                     "08l8h3yvk4v7652jvmd3ls7nf5miybkx2fmkf1mpwwfixpxxw2l4"))))
    (build-system gnu-build-system)
    (native-inputs
     `(("pkg-config" ,pkg-config)))
@@ -550,20 +538,11 @@ (define-public fontforge
              ("libxml2"         ,libxml2)
              ("pango"           ,pango)
              ("potrace"         ,potrace)
-             ("python"          ,python)
+             ("python"          ,python-wrapper)
              ("zlib"            ,zlib)))
    (arguments
-    '(#:tests? #f
-      #:phases
+    '(#:phases
       (modify-phases %standard-phases
-        (add-after 'build 'build-contrib
-          (lambda* (#:key outputs #:allow-other-keys)
-            (let* ((out (assoc-ref outputs "out"))
-                   (bin (string-append out "/bin")))
-              (and (zero? (system* "make" "-Ccontrib/fonttools"
-                                   "CC=gcc" "showttf"))
-                   (begin (install-file "contrib/fonttools/showttf" bin)
-                          #t)))))
         (add-after 'install 'set-library-path
           (lambda* (#:key inputs outputs #:allow-other-keys)
             (let ((out (assoc-ref outputs "out"))
@@ -585,4 +564,4 @@ (define-public fontforge
 opentype fonts.  You can save fonts in many different outline formats, and
 generate bitmaps.")
    (license license:gpl3+)
-   (home-page "http://fontforge.org/")))
+   (home-page "https://fontforge.github.io/en-US/")))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/patches/fontforge-svg-modtime.patch b/gnu/packages/patches/fontforge-svg-modtime.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index fd960ae610..0000000000
--- a/gnu/packages/patches/fontforge-svg-modtime.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,35 +0,0 @@
-Propagate source font modification time to svg during conversion.  Similar to
-what upstream commit 95a470e941d9a20fbdaca51334e8b6b9d93cfae4 did for TTF
-files.
-
-Submitted upstream at http://github.com/fontforge/fontforge/pull/2696
-
---- a/fontforge/svg.c
-+++ b/fontforge/svg.c
-@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@
- #include "fontforgevw.h"
- #include <unistd.h>
- #include <math.h>
--#include <time.h>
- #include <locale.h>
- #include <utype.h>
- #include <chardata.h>
-@@ -62,7 +61,6 @@ static int svg_outfontheader(FILE *file, SplineFont *sf,int layer) {
-     BlueData bd;
-     char *hash, *hasv, ch;
-     int minu, maxu, i;
--    time_t now;
-     const char *author = GetAuthor();
- 
-     memset(&info,0,sizeof(info));
-@@ -78,9 +76,8 @@ static int svg_outfontheader(FILE *file, SplineFont *sf,int layer) {
- 	fprintf( file, "\n-->\n" );
-     }
-     fprintf( file, "<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink\" version=\"1.1\">\n" );
--    time(&now);
-     fprintf( file, "<metadata>\nCreated by FontForge %d at %s",
--	    FONTFORGE_VERSIONDATE_RAW, ctime(&now) );
-+	    FONTFORGE_VERSIONDATE_RAW, ctime((time_t*)&sf->modificationtime) );
-     if ( author!=NULL )
- 	fprintf(file," By %s\n", author);
-     else