dev-embedded/avrdude has an automagic dependency on dev-libs/elfutils. It builds fine if elfutils aren't available, but lacks some (desirable) ELF-related features then. Please add "elf? dev-libs/elfutils" to avrdude's DEPEND.
Ping? There have been version bumps to avrdude in the meantime, but this bug is still unfixed.
I vote for this, but seems maintainer not read bugtracker...