--- /usr/portage/eclass/eutils.eclass	2005-09-19 08:05:37.000000000 +1000
+++ /usr/local/portage/eclass/myeutils.eclass	2005-09-29 00:28:47.000000000 +1000
@@ -465,23 +465,32 @@
 	local opts=
 
 	# handle uid
-	local euid=$1; shift
-	if [[ ! -z ${euid} ]] && [[ ${euid} != "-1" ]] ; then
-		if [[ ${euid} -gt 0 ]] ; then
-			if [[ ! -z $(egetent passwd ${euid}) ]] ; then
-				euid="next"
-			fi
-		else
-			eerror "Userid given but is not greater than 0 !"
-			die "${euid} is not a valid UID"
-		fi
+	local emin_uid=
+	local emax_uid=
+	if [[ $1 = -1 ]] || [[ -z $1 ]] ; then
+		emin_uid=100
+		emax_uid=999
+	elif [[ $1 -gt 19999 ]] ; then # Arbitrary upper limit. Could be raised
+		emin_uid=$1                # within constraints of portability
+		emax_uid=${emin_uid}       # and search time (NIS, LDAP, NetInfo etc).
+	elif [[ $1 -gt 999 ]] ; then
+		emin_uid=$1
+		emax_uid=19999
+	elif [[ $1 -gt 0 ]] ; then
+		emin_uid=$1
+		emax_uid=999
 	else
-		euid="next"
+		eerror "Userid given but is not greater than 0 !"
+		die "$1 is not a valid UID"
 	fi
-	if [[ ${euid} == "next" ]] ; then
-		for euid in $(seq 101 999) ; do
-			[[ -z $(egetent passwd ${euid}) ]] && break
-		done
+	shift
+	local euid=
+	for euid in $(seq ${emin_uid} ${emax_uid}) "x" ; do
+		[[ ${euid} = "x" ]] || [[ -z $(egetent passwd ${euid}) ]] && break
+	done
+	if [[ ${euid} = "x" ]] ; then
+		eerror "A search failed to find a free UID !"
+		die "No free UID between ${emin_uid} and ${emax_uid}"
 	fi
 	opts="${opts} -u ${euid}"
 	einfo " - Userid: ${euid}"