Both sys-boot/grub-2.02_beta2 and sys-boot/grub-2.02_beta2-r2 fail to build, while sys-boot/grub-2.00_p5107-r2 works just fine. Logfiles attached. Reproducible: Always
Created attachment 384872 [details] grub2.02_beta2__build.log
Created attachment 384874 [details] grub2.02_beta2__emerge--info
Created attachment 384876 [details] grub2.02_beta2__emerge--pqv
relates to : https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=522314
Do you have media-libs/freetype installed on this system? It is listed in DEPEND for grub-2.02_beta2-r2, but maybe you did something wierd to avoid installing it.
Oh, I see. The ebuild does not download unifont if truetype is disabled. Should be fixed now. + 16 Sep 2014; Mike Gilbert <floppym@gentoo.org> grub-2.02_beta2-r2.ebuild, + grub-9999-r1.ebuild: + Always download/symlink unifont, bug 522956.
# emerge -pqv freetype [ebuild R ] media-libs/freetype-2.5.3-r1 USE="X adobe-cff bzip2 png -auto-hinter -bindist -debug -doc -fontforge (-harfbuzz) -infinality -static-libs -utils" ABI_X86="(64) (-32) (-x32)" freetype is installed and actually enabled in the global USE flags, but (for one reason or another, most likely a previous build and/or test issue) explicitly disabled for grub in package.use; I will try your fix as soon as it becomes visible :)
Fix looks good, the -r2 builds successfully now. Cheers :)