diff --git a/dev-python/setuptools_scm/metadata.xml b/dev-python/setuptools_scm/metadata.xml
index 3aabcf5799186..36c2a8fbd06ed 100644
--- a/dev-python/setuptools_scm/metadata.xml
+++ b/dev-python/setuptools_scm/metadata.xml
@@ -10,4 +10,7 @@
 		<remote-id type="bitbucket">pypa/setuptools_scm</remote-id>
 		<remote-id type="github">pypa/setuptools_scm</remote-id>
 	</upstream>
+	<use>
+		<flag name="mercurial">Enables mercurial backend</flag>
+	</use>
 </pkgmetadata>
diff --git a/dev-python/setuptools_scm/setuptools_scm-1.15.6-r1.ebuild b/dev-python/setuptools_scm/setuptools_scm-1.15.6-r1.ebuild
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..006c5a9012f61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev-python/setuptools_scm/setuptools_scm-1.15.6-r1.ebuild
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# Copyright 1999-2018 Gentoo Foundation
+# Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
+
+EAPI=6
+
+PYTHON_COMPAT=( python2_7 python3_{4,5,6} pypy pypy3 )
+
+inherit distutils-r1
+
+DESCRIPTION="package to manage versions by scm tags via setuptools"
+HOMEPAGE="https://github.com/pypa/setuptools_scm https://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools_scm"
+SRC_URI="mirror://pypi/${PN:0:1}/${PN}/${P}.tar.gz"
+
+LICENSE="MIT"
+SLOT="0"
+KEYWORDS="~alpha ~amd64 ~arm ~arm64 ~hppa ~ia64 ~m68k ~mips ~ppc ~ppc64 ~s390 ~sh ~sparc ~x86 ~amd64-linux ~x86-linux ~x64-macos ~x86-macos"
+IUSE="git mercurial test"
+
+DEPEND="
+	dev-python/setuptools[${PYTHON_USEDEP}]
+	git? ( dev-vcs/git )
+	mercurial? ( dev-vcs/mercurial )
+	test? (
+		dev-python/pytest[${PYTHON_USEDEP}]
+	)"
+
+python_test() {
+	distutils_install_for_testing
+	py.test -v -v -x -k testing/test_basic_api.py || die "tests failed under ${EPYTHON}"
+	py.test -v -v -x -k testing/test_functions.py || die "tests failed under ${EPYTHON}"
+	py.test -v -v -x -k testing/test_main.py || die "tests failed under ${EPYTHON}"
+	py.test -v -v -x -k testing/test_regressions.py || die "tests failed under ${EPYTHON}"
+	if use git; then
+		py.test -v -v -x -k testing/test_git.py || die "tests failed under ${EPYTHON}"
+	fi
+	if use mercurial; then
+		py.test -v -v -x -k testing/test_mercurial.py || die "tests failed under ${EPYTHON}"
+	fi
+}