diff --git a/dev-python/cffi/cffi-1.14.6.ebuild b/dev-python/cffi/cffi-1.14.6.ebuild
index 52e37d7afcc5e..d2ca15df50f95 100644
--- a/dev-python/cffi/cffi-1.14.6.ebuild
+++ b/dev-python/cffi/cffi-1.14.6.ebuild
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 # Copyright 1999-2021 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
 
 # DO NOT ADD pypy to PYTHON_COMPAT
 # pypy bundles a modified version of cffi. Use python_gen_cond_dep instead.