--- eutils.eclass	2014-01-22 20:55:21.822523248 -0500
+++ eutils.eclass.patched	2014-01-22 23:29:11.107816951 -0500
@@ -1729,4 +1729,35 @@
 
 check_license() { die "you no longer need this as portage supports ACCEPT_LICENSE itself"; }
 
+# @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 i
+	local desc=$1
+	local flag=0
+	shift
+	for i; do
+		if has_version "$i"; then
+			flag=1
+			break
+		fi
+	done
+	if [[ $flag -eq 0 ]]; then
+		for i in "$@"; do
+			elog "  $i for ${desc}"
+		done
+	fi
+}
+
 fi