>>>>> On Thu, 3 Aug 2017, Mike Gilbert wrote:

> I would like to remove the ban on variable references in the
> HOMEPAGE variable in ebuilds.

I think this is not a good idea. For example, it would break
browse-url-at-point (C-u u .) from within Emacs.

> [...]

> Allowing variables in HOMEPAGE would allow for easier copying of
> similar/identical ebuilds. For example, see the trivial ebuilds in
> my overlay below.

Ebuilds are read more often than they are written. IMHO there is no
benefit in optimising the latter at the expense of the former.

Ulrich