it looks like /usr/lib/distcc/bin doesn't get added to PATH in >=portage-2.0.46-r5. this happens if you don't already have distcc in your path, which is the norm. see attached patch thanks.
Created attachment 8754 [details, diff] patch to make distcc work with ebuild
Oops. :-/ Thanks. fixed in cvs
yep. works in -r7 now. closing.