diff --git a/app-alternatives/lzip/lzip-0.ebuild b/app-alternatives/lzip/lzip-0.ebuild
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..372c44033e1ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app-alternatives/lzip/lzip-0.ebuild
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# Copyright 2025 Gentoo Authors
+# Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
+
+EAPI=8
+
+# TODO: clzip and pdlzip are probably eligible too
+ALTERNATIVES=(
+	"reference:>=app-arch/lzip-1.25"
+	"plzip:app-arch/plzip"
+)
+
+inherit app-alternatives
+
+DESCRIPTION="lzip symlinks"
+KEYWORDS="~alpha ~amd64 ~arm ~arm64 ~hppa ~loong ~m68k ~mips ~ppc ~ppc64 ~riscv ~s390 ~sparc ~x86 ~amd64-linux ~x86-linux ~ppc-macos ~x64-macos ~x64-solaris"
+
+RDEPEND="!<app-arch/lzip-1.25"
+
+src_install() {
+	case $(get_alternative) in
+		reference)
+			dosym "lzip-reference" /usr/bin/lzip
+			newman - lzip.1 <<<".so lzip-reference.1"
+			;;
+		plzip)
+			dosym "plzip" /usr/bin/lzip
+			newman - lzip.1 <<<".so plzip.1"
+			;;
+	esac
+}
diff --git a/app-alternatives/lzip/metadata.xml b/app-alternatives/lzip/metadata.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..41650d0824ab3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app-alternatives/lzip/metadata.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
+<pkgmetadata>
+	<maintainer type="project">
+		<email>base-system@gentoo.org</email>
+		<name>Gentoo Base System</name>
+	</maintainer>
+	<use>
+		<flag name="reference">
+			Symlink to <pkg>app-arch/lzip</pkg>.
+		</flag>
+		<flag name="plzip">
+			Symlink to <pkg>app-arch/plzip</pkg>.
+		</flag>
+	</use>
+</pkgmetadata>
diff --git a/app-arch/lzip/lzip-1.25.ebuild b/app-arch/lzip/lzip-1.25.ebuild
index f80df9bb8e6eb..99627d09963d9 100644
--- a/app-arch/lzip/lzip-1.25.ebuild
+++ b/app-arch/lzip/lzip-1.25.ebuild
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@ BDEPEND="
 		sec-keys/openpgp-keys-antoniodiazdiaz
 	)
 "
+PDEPEND="
+	app-alternatives/lzip
+"
 
 src_configure() {
 	# not autotools-based
diff --git a/profiles/arch/alpha/package.use.mask b/profiles/arch/alpha/package.use.mask
index d05f937f9f7fe..8ddfa194ea66c 100644
--- a/profiles/arch/alpha/package.use.mask
+++ b/profiles/arch/alpha/package.use.mask
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 # Copyright 1999-2025 Gentoo Authors
 # Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
 
+# NRK <nrk@disroot.org> (2025-05-18)
+# app-arch/plzip is not keyworded
+app-alternatives/lzip plzip
+
 # Alfred Wingate (2025-05-13)
 # Need dev-libs/libdispatch which is not keyworded here
 gnustep-base/gnustep-base libdispatch
diff --git a/profiles/arch/arm/package.use.mask b/profiles/arch/arm/package.use.mask
index ae0801470b170..88fc685ee5ed0 100644
--- a/profiles/arch/arm/package.use.mask
+++ b/profiles/arch/arm/package.use.mask
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 # Copyright 1999-2025 Gentoo Authors
 # Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
 
+# NRK <nrk@disroot.org> (2025-05-18)
+# app-arch/plzip is not keyworded
+app-alternatives/lzip plzip
+
 # Eray Aslan <eras@gentoo.org> (2025-05-08)
 # dev-db/tinycdb is not keyworded here
 net-mail/dovecot cdb
diff --git a/profiles/arch/hppa/package.use.mask b/profiles/arch/hppa/package.use.mask
index b875a6e8f8268..74d51e6435253 100644
--- a/profiles/arch/hppa/package.use.mask
+++ b/profiles/arch/hppa/package.use.mask
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@
 # NOTE: When masking a USE flag due to missing keywords, please file a keyword
 # request bug for the hppa arch.
 
+# NRK <nrk@disroot.org> (2025-05-18)
+# app-arch/plzip is not keyworded
+app-alternatives/lzip plzip
+
 # NRK <nrk@disroot.org> (2025-03-17)
 # media-libs/libyuv is not keyworded
 media-libs/libavif libyuv
diff --git a/profiles/arch/mips/package.use.mask b/profiles/arch/mips/package.use.mask
index 6548bfae8d05f..70ef3d3a31e90 100644
--- a/profiles/arch/mips/package.use.mask
+++ b/profiles/arch/mips/package.use.mask
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 # Copyright 1999-2025 Gentoo Authors
 # Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
 
+# NRK <nrk@disroot.org> (2025-05-18)
+# app-arch/plzip is not keyworded
+app-alternatives/lzip plzip
+
 # NRK <nrk@disroot.org> (2025-04-07)
 # media-libs/libyuv is not keyworded
 media-libs/imlib2 y4m
diff --git a/profiles/arch/ppc/package.use.mask b/profiles/arch/ppc/package.use.mask
index 53d7d6f2671f1..3bce1ce9b4fd7 100644
--- a/profiles/arch/ppc/package.use.mask
+++ b/profiles/arch/ppc/package.use.mask
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 # Copyright 2023-2025 Gentoo Authors
 # Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
 
+# NRK <nrk@disroot.org> (2025-05-18)
+# app-arch/plzip is not keyworded
+app-alternatives/lzip plzip
+
 # Alfred Wingate (2025-05-13)
 # Need dev-libs/libdispatch which is not keyworded here
 gnustep-base/gnustep-base libdispatch
diff --git a/profiles/arch/s390/package.use.mask b/profiles/arch/s390/package.use.mask
index 29defb854e285..c393306256302 100644
--- a/profiles/arch/s390/package.use.mask
+++ b/profiles/arch/s390/package.use.mask
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 # Copyright 1999-2025 Gentoo Authors
 # Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
 
+# NRK <nrk@disroot.org> (2025-05-18)
+# app-arch/plzip is not keyworded
+app-alternatives/lzip plzip
+
 # Eray Aslan <eras@gentoo.org> (2025-05-08)
 # dev-db/tinycdb is not keyworded here
 net-mail/dovecot cdb
diff --git a/profiles/arch/sparc/package.use.mask b/profiles/arch/sparc/package.use.mask
index cf77a1b499753..3b6d5d558d77d 100644
--- a/profiles/arch/sparc/package.use.mask
+++ b/profiles/arch/sparc/package.use.mask
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 # Copyright 1999-2025 Gentoo Authors
 # Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
 
+# NRK <nrk@disroot.org> (2025-05-18)
+# app-arch/plzip is not keyworded
+app-alternatives/lzip plzip
+
 # Alfred Wingate (2025-05-13)
 # Need dev-libs/libdispatch which is not keyworded here
 gnustep-base/gnustep-base libdispatch