I have "PORTAGE_ELOG_SYSTEM="save"" in my make.conf, but the testing version of portage doesn't log. However stable version does.
I always leave the elog save module enabled and the logs are created normally for me. These are my settings: PORTAGE_ELOG_SYSTEM="save" PORTAGE_ELOG_CLASSES="warn error log info" The logs are created in ${PORT_LOGDIR}/elog/ for me. You're not getting any logs there? The last portage version that worked for you was 2.1.1?
I have changed my make.conf, including your lines. Now it works fine. Thank you!