The Portage Manual doesn't describe the complete pecking order regarding config files. It talks about /etc/make.conf vs. /etc/make.globals, but does not take into account environmental variables or /etc/make.profile/make.defaults. The make.conf man page does a good job of describing this pecking order: "This file contains various variables that are used by Portage. Portage will check the currently-defined environment variables first for any settings. If no environment settings are found, Portage then checks /etc/make.conf. If no setting is found in /etc/make.conf, Portage checks /etc/make.profile/make.defaults. If no setting is found there, the default setting is grabbed from /etc/make.globals. Please note that all user settings should be made in the environment or in /etc/make.conf, which is intended to be customized by the user." The Portage Manual should be updated to include a similar description.
Could you check this out please? //ZhEN
Fixed in the CVS.
Closing the bug then, thanks Stoyan ;-) //ZhEN