The end trace : ***************** /bin/sh /var/tmp/portage/kdemultimedia-3.1.4-r1/work/kdemultimedia-3.1.4/admin/missing --run automake-1.7 --foreign Makefile configure.in:50: /usr/bin/m4: Warning: Excess arguments to built-in `m4_pushdef' ignored autom4te-2.57a: /usr/bin/m4 failed with exit status: 1 configure.in: no proper invocation of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE was found. configure.in: You should verify that configure.in invokes AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE, configure.in: that aclocal.m4 is present in the top-level directory, configure.in: and that aclocal.m4 was recently regenerated (using aclocal). configure.in: required file `./install-sh' not found configure.in: required file `./mkinstalldirs' not found configure.in: required file `./missing' not found SUBDIRS: variable `TOPSUBDIRS' is used but `TOPSUBDIRS' is undefined make: *** [Makefile.in] Error 1 !!! ERROR: kde-base/kdemultimedia-3.1.4-r1 failed. !!! Function kde_src_compile, Line 137, Exitcode 2 !!! died running emake, kde_src_compile:make ******************* emerge info ******************* Portage 2.0.49-r7 (default-x86-1.4, gcc-3.2.3, glibc-2.3.2-r1, 2.4.20-gentoo-r7) ================================================================= System uname: 2.4.20-gentoo-r7 i686 AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2000+ ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86 ~x86" AUTOCLEAN="yes" CFLAGS="-mcpu=athlon-xp -O3 -pipe" CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu" COMPILER="gcc3" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /var/qmail/control /usr/kde/2/share/config /usr/kde/3/share/config /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb /usr/kde/3.1/share/config /usr/share/texmf/tex/generic/config/ /usr/share/texmf/tex/platex/config/ /usr/share/config" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/gconf /etc/env.d" CXXFLAGS="-mcpu=athlon-xp -O3 -pipe" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" FEATURES="sandbox ccache autoaddcvs" GENTOO_MIRRORS="ftp://mirrors.tds.net/gentoo http://ftp.belnet.be/mirror/rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo/ http://sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch/ftp/mirror/gentoo/ ftp://sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch/mirror/gentoo/ ftp://files.gentoo.gr http://gentoo.mirror.sdv.fr" MAKEOPTS="-j2 CCLD='g++'" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" PORTDIR_OVERLAY="" SYNC="rsync://rsync.fr.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="x86 oss apm avi crypt cups encode foomaticdb gif jpeg libg++ mad mikmod mmx mpeg ncurses nls pdflib png quicktime spell truetype xml2 xmms xv zlib directfb gtkhtml gdbm berkdb slang readline tetex aalib bonobo svga tcltk java guile X sdl gpm pam libwww ssl python esd imlib oggvorbis gnome gtk qt kde motif acpi alsa -arts cdr dvd gtk2 junit ldap mozilla perl plotutils sasl scanner -tcpd tiff usb wmf opengl ofx"
Looks to me like KDE isn't compatible yet with the new autoconf 2.57a. Try downgrading back to what you had before and reemerge.
Not the same error but kdemultimedia-3.1.4-r1 failed for me too : Same output than http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=90605&highlight=kdemultimedia kdemultimedia failed in kmidi/TIMIDITY/tk_c.c. Here is the output of emerge info in my system : Portage 2.0.49-r3 (default-x86-1.4, gcc-3.2.3, glibc-2.3.2-r1, 2.4.22_pre2-gss) ================================================================= System uname: 2.4.22_pre2-gss i686 AMD Athlon(tm) XP 1800+ distcc 2.9 i686-pc-linux-gnu (protocols 1 and 2) (default port 3632) [disabled] ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86" AUTOCLEAN="yes" CFLAGS="-Os -march=athlon-xp -pipe" CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu" COMPILER="gcc3" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /var/qmail/control /usr/kde/2/share/config /usr/kde/3/share/config /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb /usr/kde/3.1/share/config /usr/share/config" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/gconf /etc/env.d" CXXFLAGS="-Os -march=athlon-xp -pipe" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" FEATURES="sandbox ccache autoaddcvs" GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://194.83.57.3/sites/www.ibiblio.org/gentoo/ http://212.219.56.146/sites/www.ibiblio.org/gentoo/ http://212.219.56.162/sites/www.ibiblio.org/gentoo/ http://194.83.57.11/sites/www.ibiblio.org/gentoo/" MAKEOPTS="-j2" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" PORTDIR_OVERLAY="" SYNC="rsync://rsync.europe.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="x86 oss apm avi crypt cups encode foomaticdb gif jpeg kde libg++ mad mikmod mmx mpeg ncurses nls pdflib png quicktime spell truetype xml2 xmms xv zlib gtkhtml gdbm berkdb slang readline tetex bonobo svga java guile sdl gpm tcpd pam libwww ssl perl python esd imlib oggvorbis qt motif opengl mozilla cdr X gtk gnome ffmpeg xvid dvd tcltk -alsa -arts mysql"
Waiting for a better solution, I just built kdemultimedia with USE="-tcltk" and this time it worked.
The original error is now fixed with autoconf-2.57a-r1