% cvs diff
diff --git a/bin/repoman b/bin/repoman
--- a/bin/repoman
+++ b/bin/repoman
@@ -644,10 +644,7 @@ if "commit" == options.mode and \
                print(prefix + line)
        sys.exit(1)
 
-if options.echangelog is None and \
-       repo_config.name == "gentoo":
-       # Bug #337853 - gentoo's council says to enable
-       # --echangelog by default for the "gentoo" repo
+if options.echangelog is None and repo_config.update_changelog:
        options.echangelog = 'y'
 
 if vcs is None:
diff --git a/pym/portage/repository/config.py b/pym/portage/repository/config.py
--- a/pym/portage/repository/config.py
+++ b/pym/portage/repository/config.py
@@ -431,6 +431,9 @@ class RepoConfigLoader(object):
                                                DeprecationWarning)
                        repo.manifest_hashes = manifest_hashes
 
+                       if layout_data.get('update-changelog', '').lower() == 'true':
+                               repo.update_changelog = True
+
                #Take aliases into account.
                new_prepos = {}
                for repo_name, repo in prepos.items():