diff --git a/eclass/autotools.eclass b/eclass/autotools.eclass
index e6658e3613184..b8eeb55fd8f29 100644
--- a/eclass/autotools.eclass
+++ b/eclass/autotools.eclass
@@ -523,7 +523,7 @@ autotools_env_setup() {
 					hv_args="-b"
 					;;
 			esac
-			ROOT=/ has_version ${hv_args} "=sys-devel/automake-${pv}*" && export WANT_AUTOMAKE="${pv}" && break
+			has_version ${hv_args} "=sys-devel/automake-${pv}*" && export WANT_AUTOMAKE="${pv}" && break
 		done
 		[[ ${WANT_AUTOMAKE} == "latest" ]] && \
 			die "Cannot find the latest automake! Tried ${_LATEST_AUTOMAKE[*]}"