Index: bin/emerge
===================================================================
--- bin/emerge	(revision 6636)
+++ bin/emerge	(working copy)
@@ -3945,6 +3945,12 @@
 		del content
 
 		try:
+			rsync_initial_timeout = \
+				int(settings.get("PORTAGE_RSYNC_INITIAL_TIMEOUT", "15"))
+		except ValueError:
+			rsync_initial_timeout = 15
+
+		try:
 			if settings.has_key("RSYNC_RETRIES"):
 				print yellow("WARNING:")+" usage of RSYNC_RETRIES is deprecated, use PORTAGE_RSYNC_RETRIES instead"
 				maxretries=int(settings["RSYNC_RETRIES"])				
@@ -4054,7 +4060,7 @@
 					# Timeout here in case the server is unresponsive.  The
 					# --timeout rsync option doesn't apply to the initial
 					# connection attempt.
-					signal.alarm(15)
+					signal.alarm(rsync_initial_timeout)
 					try:
 						mypids.extend(portage_exec.spawn(
 							mycommand, env=settings.environ(), returnpid=True))