Thanks for the input, but I'm still in trouble.

The emerge -ev system processed about 73/103 packages, and then hit an autoconf fail

The emerge -ev world processes about 175/430 packages and then hit an autoconf fail

The biggest package problem I appear to have is with db-4.7.25

***** aclocal *****

***** PWD: /var/tmp/portage/sys-libs/db-4.7.25_p4/work/db-4.7.25/dist

***** aclocal -I aclocal -I aclocal_java

aclocal/types.m4:7: warning: underquoted definition of AM_SEARCH_USIZES

aclocal/types.m4:7: run info '(automake)Extending aclocal'

aclocal/types.m4:7: or see http://sources.redhat.com/automake/automake.html#Extending-aclocal

***** autoconf *****

***** PWD: /var/tmp/portage/sys-libs/db-4.7.25_p4/work/db-4.7.25/dist

***** autoconf

configure.ac:318: error: possibly undefined macro: AC_PROG_LIBTOOL

If this token and others are legitimate, please use m4_pattern_allow.

See the Autoconf documentation.

* CPV: sys-libs/db-4.7.25_p4

* REPO: gentoo

* USE: amd64 elibc_glibc kernel_linux multilib userland_GNU

>>> Unpacking source...

>>> Unpacking db-4.7.25.tar.gz to /var/tmp/portage/sys-libs/db-4.7.25_p4/work

* Applying patch.4.7.25.1 ... [ ok ]

* Applying patch.4.7.25.2 ... [ ok ]

* Applying patch.4.7.25.3 ... [ ok ]

* Applying patch.4.7.25.4 ... [ ok ]

* Applying db-4.6-libtool.patch ... [ ok ]

* Applying db-4.6-jni-check-prefix-first.patch ... [ ok ]

* Applying db-4.3-listen-to-java-options.patch ... [ ok ]

* Running eautoreconf in '/var/tmp/portage/sys-libs/db-4.7.25_p4/work/db-4.7.25/dist' ...

* Running aclocal -I aclocal -I aclocal_java ... [ ok ]

* Running autoconf ... [ !! ]

* Failed Running autoconf !

* Include in your bugreport the contents of:

* /var/tmp/portage/sys-libs/db-4.7.25_p4/temp/autoconf.out

* ERROR: sys-libs/db-4.7.25_p4 failed:

* Failed Running autoconf !

* Call stack:

* ebuild.sh, line 54: Called src_unpack

* environment, line 5147: Called eautoreconf

* environment, line 1399: Called eautoconf

* environment, line 1335: Called autotools_run_tool 'autoconf'

* environment, line 626: Called die

* The specific snippet of code:

* die "Failed Running $1 !";

* If you need support, post the output of 'emerge --info =sys-libs/db-4.7.25_p4',

* the complete build log and the output of 'emerge -pqv =sys-libs/db-4.7.25_p4'.

!!! When you file a bug report, please include the following information:

GENTOO_VM= CLASSPATH="" JAVA_HOME="/etc/java-config-2/current-system-vm"

JAVACFLAGS="" COMPILER=""

and of course, the output of emerge --info

* The complete build log is located at '/var/tmp/portage/sys-libs/db-4.7.25_p4/temp/build.log'.

* The ebuild environment file is located at '/var/tmp/portage/sys-libs/db-4.7.25_p4/temp/environment'.

* S: '/var/tmp/portage/sys-libs/db-4.7.25_p4/work/db-4.7.25/build_unix'

Portage 2.1.8.3 (default/linux/amd64/10.0, gcc-4.1.2, glibc-2.10.1-r1, 2.6.32-gentoo-r7 x86_64)

=================================================================

System Settings

=================================================================

System uname: Linux-2.6.32-gentoo-r7-x86_64-Intel-R-_Xeon-R-_CPU_X3220_@_2.40GHz-with-gentoo-1.12.13

Timestamp of tree: Mon, 31 May 2010 15:00:20 +0000

app-shells/bash: 4.0_p37

dev-java/java-config: 2.1.9-r2

dev-lang/python: 2.6.5-r2, 3.1.2-r3

dev-python/pycrypto: 2.1.0_beta1

dev-util/cmake: 2.6.4-r3

sys-apps/baselayout: 1.12.13

sys-apps/sandbox: 1.6-r2

sys-devel/autoconf: 2.65

sys-devel/automake: 1.9.6-r3, 1.10.3, 1.11.1

sys-devel/binutils: 2.18-r3

sys-devel/gcc: 4.1.2, 4.3.4, 4.4.3-r2

sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.4.1

sys-devel/libtool: 2.2.6b

virtual/os-headers: 2.6.30-r1

ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64"

ACCEPT_LICENSE="* -@EULA dlj-1.1"

CBUILD="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"

CFLAGS="-O2 -pipe"

CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"

CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc"

CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/ca-certificates.conf /etc/env.d /etc/env.d/java/ /etc/fonts/fonts.conf /etc/gconf /etc/php/apache2-php5/ext-active/ /etc/php/cgi-php5/ext-active/ /etc/php/cli-php5/ext-active/ /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/sandbox.d /etc/terminfo"

CXXFLAGS="-O2 -pipe"

DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles"

FEATURES="assume-digests distlocks fixpackages news parallel-fetch protect-owned sandbox sfperms strict unmerge-logs unmerge-orphans userfetch"

GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://distfiles.gentoo.org"

LANG="en_US.UTF-8"

LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1"

PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages"

PORTAGE_CONFIGROOT="/"

PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --stats --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages"

PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp"

PORTDIR="/usr/portage"

SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"

USE="acl amd64 apache2 berkdb bzip2 cli cracklib crypt cups cxx dri fortran gdbm gpm iconv ipv6 kerberos ldap mmx modules mudflap multilib mysql ncurses nls nptl nptlonly openmp pam pcre perl php pppd python readline reflection samba session spl sse sse2 ssl sysfs tcpd unicode x86_64 xorg zlib" ALSA_CARDS="ali5451 als4000 atiixp atiixp-modem bt87x ca0106 cmipci emu10k1x ens1370 ens1371 es1938 es1968 fm801 hda-intel intel8x0 intel8x0m maestro3 trident usb-audio via82xx via82xx-modem ymfpci" ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="adpcm alaw asym copy dmix dshare dsnoop empty extplug file hooks iec958 ioplug ladspa lfloat linear meter mmap_emul mulaw multi null plug rate route share shm softvol" APACHE2_MODULES="alias auth_basic authn_default authn_file authn_group authz_host authz_user autoindex dav dav_fs dir headers include info mime proxy proxy_http rewrite vhost_alias" ELIBC="glibc" INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse evdev" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" RUBY_TARGETS="ruby18" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="fbdev glint intel mach64 mga neomagic nv r128 radeon savage sis tdfx trident vesa via vmware voodoo" XTABLES_ADDONS="quota2 psd pknock lscan length2 ipv4options ipset ipp2p iface geoip fuzzy condition tee tarpit sysrq steal rawnat logmark ipmark dhcpmac delude chaos account"

Unset: CPPFLAGS, CTARGET, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, FFLAGS, INSTALL_MASK, LC_ALL, LINGUAS, MAKEOPTS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS, PORTDIR_OVERLAY

[ebuild N ] sys-libs/db-4.7.25_p4 USE="-doc -examples -java -nocxx -tcl -test"

I don't know how much more effort I should put into trying to restore this system, or if i should take my chances on a fresh new install.

I dont particularly want to back up 10tb of storage in case something goes pear shaped with a new install.

I guess I can readily maintain the kernel build info that I presently have, but....