This code is broken because language_msg variable is reused instead of using a temp. variable so the check will always return true: for lang in $language_msg ; do test -f "help/help_mp-${lang}.h" && language_msg=$lang && break done test -z "$language_msg" && language_msg=en _mp_help="help/help_mp-${language_msg}.h" echores "messages: $language_msg - man pages: $language_man - documentation: $language_doc" This is why we are forcing --language=all now in the ebuild. To reproduce the problem set your LINGUAS to e.g. "sl" which isn't supported by MPlayer. I've reported it to #mplayerdev and they even came up with a solution but didn't commit it (yet?) in SVN :-( Once we get the fix in tree the method for handling LINGUAS in older ebuilds is fine.
Created attachment 199974 [details] IRC log ..
Created attachment 199985 [details, diff] patch, based on the IRC log.. let's hope it's right applied in the 20070731 snapshot in portage