--- eutils.eclass	2014-01-22 23:36:35.819000000 -0500
+++ eutils.eclass.patched	2014-01-22 23:38:15.538000000 -0500
@@ -1729,4 +1729,71 @@
 
 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,
+# app-misc/bar or app-misc/baz[bar] for optional bar support
+# and either both app-misc/a and app-misc/b or app-misc/c for alphabet support.
+# @CODE:
+# 		optfeature "foo support" app-misc/foo
+# 		optfeature "bar support" app-misc/bar app-misc/baz[bar]
+#		optfeature "alphabet support" \( app-misc/a app-misc/b \) app-misc/c
+#
+optfeature() {
+	debug-print-function ${FUNCNAME} "$@"
+	local i
+	local desc=$1
+	local flag=0
+	local innercount=0
+	local innerflag=0
+	shift
+	for i; do
+		if [[ "$i" == "(" ]]; then		
+			innercount=0
+			innerflag=0
+			flag=2
+		elif [[ $flag -eq 2 ]]; then
+			if [[ "$i" == ")" ]]; then
+				if [[ $innercount -eq $innerflag ]]; then
+					flag=1
+					break
+				else
+					flag=0
+				fi
+			else
+				innercount=$((innercount+1))
+				if has_version $i; then
+					innerflag=$((innerflag+1))
+				fi
+			fi			
+		elif has_version "$i"; then
+			flag=1
+			break
+	
+		fi
+	done
+	if [[ $flag -eq 0 ]]; then
+		local andflag=0
+		local msg=""
+		for i in "$@"; do
+			if [[ "$i" == "(" ]]; then
+				andflag=1
+				msg=" "
+			elif [[ "$i" == ")" ]]; then
+				andflag=0
+				msg="${msg:0: -4} for ${desc}"
+				elog "${msg}"
+			elif [[ $andflag -eq 1 ]]; then
+				msg="${msg} ${i} and"
+			else
+				elog "  $i for ${desc}"
+			fi
+		done
+	fi
+}
+
 fi