--- eutils.eclass	2014-01-22 20:55:21.822523248 -0500
+++ eutils.eclass.patched	2014-01-22 21:27:23.434584399 -0500
@@ -1730,3 +1730,29 @@
 check_license() { die "you no longer need this as portage supports ACCEPT_LICENSE itself"; }
 
 fi
+
+# @FUNCTION: optfeature
+# @USAGE: <short description> <package atom to match> [other atoms]
+# @DESCRIPTION:
+# Print out a message suggesting an optional package (or packages) which
+# provide the described functionality
+#
+# The following snippet would suggest app-misc/foo for optional foo support,
+# and app-misc/bar or app-misc/baz[bar] for optional bar support.
+# @CODE:
+# 		optfeature "foo support" app-misc/foo
+# 		optfeature "bar support" app-misc/bar app-misc/baz[bar]
+#
+optfeature() {
+	debug-print-function ${FUNCNAME} "$@"
+	local desc=$1
+	shift
+	while (( $# )); do
+		if ! has_version "$1"; then
+			elog "  $1 for ${desc}"
+		else
+			break
+		fi
+		shift
+	done
+}