From config.log: configure:3590: i686-pc-linux-gnu-gcc -O3 -march=athlon-xp -pipe -ftracer -funroll-loops -ffast-math -finline-functions -fomit-frame-pointer -D_GNU_SOURCE -D_REENTRANT -Wl,-O1 -Wl,--sort-common -Wl,-s -Wl,--enable-new-dtags -Wl,--default-symver conftest.c >&5 /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.0.3/../../../../i686-pc-linux-gnu/bin/ld: unrecognized option '--default-symver' /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.0.3/../../../../i686-pc-linux-gnu/bin/ld: use the --help option for usage information collect2: ld returned 1 exit status configure:3593: $? = 1 configure: failed program was: | /* confdefs.h. */ | | #define PACKAGE_NAME "Berkeley DB" | #define PACKAGE_TARNAME "db-4.3.29" | #define PACKAGE_VERSION "4.3.29" | #define PACKAGE_STRING "Berkeley DB 4.3.29" | #define PACKAGE_BUGREPORT "support@sleepycat.com" | /* end confdefs.h. */ | | int | main () | { | | ; | return 0; | } configure:3632: error: C compiler cannot create executables When I comment out the following lines, emerge completes succesfully: db-4.3.29.ebuild: 87 if use userland_GNU; then 88 append-ldflags -Wl,--default-symver 89 fi # emerge --info Portage 2.1_rc1-r4 (default-linux/x86/2005.1, gcc-4.0.3, glibc-2.3.6-r4, 2.6.16-gentoo-r7 i686) ================================================================= System uname: 2.6.16-gentoo-r7 i686 AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2400+ Gentoo Base System version 1.12.0_pre19 dev-lang/python: 2.3.5-r2, 2.4.3-r1 dev-python/pycrypto: 2.0.1-r5 dev-util/ccache: [Not Present] dev-util/confcache: [Not Present] sys-apps/sandbox: 1.2.18.1 sys-devel/autoconf: 2.13, 2.59-r7 sys-devel/automake: 1.4_p6, 1.5, 1.6.3, 1.7.9-r1, 1.8.5-r3, 1.9.6-r2 sys-devel/binutils: 2.15.92.0.2-r10, 2.16.1-r2 sys-devel/libtool: 1.5.22 virtual/os-headers: 2.6.11-r5 ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86 ~x86" AUTOCLEAN="yes" CBUILD="i686-pc-linux-gnu" CFLAGS="-O3 -march=athlon-xp -pipe -ftracer -funroll-loops -ffast-math -finline-functions -fomit-frame-pointer" CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/kde/2/share/config /usr/kde/3.5/env /usr/kde/3.5/share/config /usr/kde/3.5/shutdown /usr/kde/3/share/config /usr/share/X11/xkb /usr/share/config /var/qmail/control" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/eselect/compiler /etc/gconf /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/terminfo /etc/env.d" CXXFLAGS="-O3 -march=athlon-xp -pipe -ftracer -funroll-loops -ffast-math -finline-functions -fomit-frame-pointer" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" FEATURES="autoconfig buildpkg distlocks metadata-transfer sandbox sfperms strict userpriv" GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://files.gentoo.gr http://gentoo.osuosl.org" LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1 -Wl,--sort-common -Wl,-s -Wl,--enable-new-dtags" MAKEOPTS="-j2" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --delete-after --stats --timeout=180 --exclude='/distfiles' --exclude='/local' --exclude='/packages'" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" PORTDIR_OVERLAY="/usr/local/portage /usr/local/xgl-testing /usr/portage/local/layman/portage-xgl" SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.gr/gentoo-portage" USE="x86 3dnow 3dnowext X a52 aac acpi alsa apm arts asf avi bash-completion berkdb bitmap-fonts bzip2 cairo cdr cli crypt cups dbus dri drm dts dvd dvdr dvdread eds emboss encode ffmpeg fftw firefox foomaticdb fortran gdbm gif glitz gnome gpm gstreamer gtk gtk2 hal imlib ipv6 isdnlog jpeg kde kdeenablefinal libg++ libwww lirc lm_sensors logitech-mouse mad mikmod mmx mmxext motif mp3 mpeg mysql nautilus ncurses nls nptl nptlonly ogg oggvorbis opengl oss pam pcre pdf pdflib perl png pppd python qt quicktime readline reflection sdl session spell spl sse ssl svg tcpd threads truetype truetype-fonts type1-fonts unicode videos vorbis win32codecs xine xml xml2 xmms xorg xv xvmc zlib elibc_glibc input_devices_evdev input_devices_keyboard input_devices_mouse kernel_linux userland_GNU video_cards_ati video_cards_fglrx video_cards_v4l video_cards_vesa video_cards_radeon" Unset: ASFLAGS, CTARGET, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, INSTALL_MASK, LANG, LC_ALL, LINGUAS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS
switch your binutils to 2.16.1 instead of 2.15.92.0.2
