diff --git a/dev-python/importlib_metadata/importlib_metadata-4.11.2.ebuild b/dev-python/importlib_metadata/importlib_metadata-4.11.2.ebuild
index 3d83a45dfd42a..4a5821a208653 100644
--- a/dev-python/importlib_metadata/importlib_metadata-4.11.2.ebuild
+++ b/dev-python/importlib_metadata/importlib_metadata-4.11.2.ebuild
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 # Copyright 1999-2022 Gentoo Authors
 # Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
 
-EAPI=8
+# please keep this ebuild at EAPI 7 -- sys-apps/portage dep
+EAPI=7
 
 DISTUTILS_USE_PEP517=flit
 # NB: this package extends beyond built-in importlib stuff in py3.8+