diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/Manifest b/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/Manifest
index 02133b74f7..67c0bf1539 100644
--- a/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/Manifest
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/Manifest
@@ -5,3 +5,4 @@ DIST protobuf-29.5.tar.gz 9338935 BLAKE2B cfffcab9e240047c1759f8304b0c2f553bf73c
 DIST protobuf-30.2.tar.gz 9506934 BLAKE2B 3a7d6bfa38500b16b1ce52b244fd9448fe7be2933a77224a1423a67e3ae3155846c0974ee1b6c579f6050f60b7784ace21b149b3cbdff2ef1e6bf954acbb1b51 SHA512 555d1b18d175eeaf17f3879f124d33080f490367840d35b34bfc4e4a5b383bf6a1d09f1570acb6af9c53ac4940a14572d46423b6e3dd0c712e7802c986fb6be6
 DIST protobuf-31.1.tar.gz 9583956 BLAKE2B cd15fc6d25bee71681602cf97c19dc04de9900594b0c0648decf418bdcc0cf787315b2238c18cb0b1eaf7b163ddbbfb7853cc5cff635b4841fcb8b20d94825fd SHA512 5bf730e37183defcb29cf4831128f536ad8bcdce2b2b46b297d95f3de4a037b9ff3b6c57df66a039256dcefd828ba9d43c32b01a7a82aa5c881a9ae12cadb643
 DIST protobuf-32.1.tar.gz 9676391 BLAKE2B f6c1faa260ecb57c0a1a5d4be7d56e431cac9e325a02b86d9eecd0318a0964618063db218a4720fcb1121614016f112ba00880a5b743a5c34f19f79ea4420735 SHA512 e7f8fe01912ba30cc7ce101beac1cfbd089bcb57b159a57d4d90cabd1b29d978ad322f0607e1b955617f035a6b68d4e7bc940fa4afa67d255a21f513a2c62172
+DIST protobuf-33.0.tar.gz 6872665 BLAKE2B 5d456c000117b590dea5b7e721a8b8d00d9e7067ba2156f082e4959a17fcf8d4f2e306f90335aad97e1a94dfd2491544d67cb29670f0022034fde574140a8066 SHA512 2956270a81631895ab6ed8c3c2a22b353a461b0827ee17a1c569b24374307a8e2525a06db6728140bff759a40e47a1d2a291cfb34293b364fe279f10468f3cb9
diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-21.12.ebuild b/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-21.12.ebuild
index 7c343d581c..7912dd34f6 100644
--- a/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-21.12.ebuild
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-21.12.ebuild
@@ -25,12 +25,12 @@ RESTRICT="!test? ( test )"
 
 BDEPEND="emacs? ( app-editors/emacs:* )"
 DEPEND="
-	zlib? ( sys-libs/zlib[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}] )
+	zlib? ( virtual/zlib:=[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}] )
 	test? ( >=dev-cpp/gtest-1.9[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}] )
 "
 RDEPEND="
 	emacs? ( app-editors/emacs:* )
-	zlib? ( sys-libs/zlib[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}] )
+	zlib? ( virtual/zlib:=[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}] )
 "
 
 PATCHES=(
diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-25.6.ebuild b/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-25.6.ebuild
index 1024552e92..10e05a1724 100644
--- a/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-25.6.ebuild
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-25.6.ebuild
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ BDEPEND="
 
 COMMON_DEPEND="
 	>=dev-cpp/abseil-cpp-${ABSEIL_MIN_VER}:=[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}]
-	zlib? ( sys-libs/zlib[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}] )
+	zlib? ( virtual/zlib:=[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}] )
 "
 
 DEPEND="
diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-28.0.ebuild b/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-28.0.ebuild
index 2d93cc7ee2..2a1b6d8e44 100644
--- a/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-28.0.ebuild
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-28.0.ebuild
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ BDEPEND="
 COMMON_DEPEND="
 	dev-libs/jsoncpp[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}]
 	>=dev-cpp/abseil-cpp-${ABSEIL_MIN_VER}:=[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}]
-	zlib? ( sys-libs/zlib[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}] )
+	zlib? ( virtual/zlib:=[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}] )
 "
 
 DEPEND="
diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-29.5.ebuild b/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-29.5.ebuild
index dbfa1f7872..d504a4e7e9 100644
--- a/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-29.5.ebuild
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-29.5.ebuild
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ BDEPEND="
 
 COMMON_DEPEND="
 	>=dev-cpp/abseil-cpp-${ABSEIL_MIN_VER}:=[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}]
-	zlib? ( sys-libs/zlib[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}] )
+	zlib? ( virtual/zlib:=[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}] )
 "
 
 DEPEND="
diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-30.2.ebuild b/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-30.2.ebuild
index d56bfbf2d6..485bb045d2 100644
--- a/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-30.2.ebuild
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-30.2.ebuild
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ BDEPEND="
 
 COMMON_DEPEND="
 	>=dev-cpp/abseil-cpp-${ABSEIL_MIN_VER}:=[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}]
-	zlib? ( sys-libs/zlib[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}] )
+	zlib? ( virtual/zlib:=[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}] )
 "
 
 DEPEND="
diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-31.1.ebuild b/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-31.1.ebuild
index 2cfbce9de2..00904e6739 100644
--- a/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-31.1.ebuild
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-31.1.ebuild
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ BDEPEND="
 
 COMMON_DEPEND="
 	>=dev-cpp/abseil-cpp-${ABSEIL_MIN_VER}:=[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}]
-	zlib? ( sys-libs/zlib[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}] )
+	zlib? ( virtual/zlib:=[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}] )
 "
 
 DEPEND="
diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-32.1.ebuild b/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-32.1.ebuild
index 8c53aec067..c8f1615d65 100644
--- a/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-32.1.ebuild
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-32.1.ebuild
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ BDEPEND="
 
 COMMON_DEPEND="
 	>=dev-cpp/abseil-cpp-${ABSEIL_MIN_VER}:=[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}]
-	zlib? ( sys-libs/zlib[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}] )
+	zlib? ( virtual/zlib:=[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}] )
 "
 
 DEPEND="
@@ -65,7 +65,6 @@ RDEPEND="
 
 PATCHES=(
 	"${FILESDIR}/${PN}-23.3-static_assert-failure.patch"
-	# "${FILESDIR}/${PN}-28.0-disable-test_upb-lto.patch" # applied manually
 	"${FILESDIR}/${PN}-30.0-findJsonCpp.patch"
 )
 
@@ -74,22 +73,18 @@ DOCS=( CONTRIBUTORS.txt README.md )
 src_prepare() {
 	cmake_src_prepare
 
-# 	if tc-is-lto; then
-# 		eapply "${FILESDIR}/${PN}-28.0-disable-test_upb-lto.patch"
-# 	fi
-
 	cp "${FILESDIR}/FindJsonCpp.cmake" "${S}/cmake" || die
 }
 
 multilib_src_configure() {
+	# bug #963340 (seems to only happen when upgrading from older pb,
+	# possibly w/o tests too).
 	use libupb && filter-lto
 
 	# Currently, the only static library is libupb (and there is no
 	# USE=static-libs), so optimize away the fat-lto build time penalty.
 	use libupb && lto-guarantee-fat
 
-	use libupb && filter-lto
-
 	local mycmakeargs=(
 		-Dprotobuf_BUILD_CONFORMANCE="$(usex test "$(usex conformance)")"
 		-Dprotobuf_BUILD_LIBPROTOC="$(usex libprotoc)"
@@ -144,10 +139,6 @@ multilib_src_test() {
 src_test() {
 	local -x srcdir="${S}/src"
 
-# 	local CMAKE_SKIP_TESTS=(
-# 		"^full-test$"
-# 	)
-
 	local GTEST_SKIP_TESTS=(
 		"PackedTest/12.DecodeEmptyPackedField"
 	)
@@ -169,13 +160,6 @@ src_test() {
 	[[ -n ${GTEST_SKIP_TESTS[*]} ]] && GTEST_FILTER+="${GTEST_FILTER+:}-$(IFS=':' ; echo "${GTEST_SKIP_TESTS[*]}")"
 
 	cmake-multilib_src_test
-
-# 	if tc-is-lto; then
-# 		# GTEST_FILTER="${GTEST_FILTER//-/}"
-# 		GTEST_FILTER="$(IFS=':' ; echo "${GTEST_SKIP_TESTS[*]}")"
-#
-# 		cmake-multilib_src_test
-# 	fi
 }
 
 multilib_src_install_all() {
diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-33.0.ebuild b/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-33.0.ebuild
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c8f1615d65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-33.0.ebuild
@@ -0,0 +1,200 @@
+# Copyright 2008-2025 Gentoo Authors
+# Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
+
+EAPI=8
+
+inherit cmake-multilib dot-a elisp-common flag-o-matic multilib toolchain-funcs
+
+# NOTE from https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/blob/main/cmake/dependencies.cmake
+ABSEIL_MIN_VER="20250127.0"
+
+if [[ "${PV}" == *9999 ]]; then
+	EGIT_REPO_URI="https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf.git"
+	EGIT_SUBMODULES=( '-*' )
+	SLOT="0/9999"
+
+	inherit git-r3
+else
+	SRC_URI="https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases/download/v${PV}/${P}.tar.gz"
+	KEYWORDS="~alpha ~amd64 ~arm ~arm64 ~hppa ~loong ~mips ~ppc ~ppc64 ~riscv ~s390 ~sparc ~x86 ~amd64-linux ~x86-linux ~arm64-macos ~x64-macos"
+	SLOT="0/$(ver_cut 1-2).0"
+fi
+
+DESCRIPTION="Google's Protocol Buffers - Extensible mechanism for serializing structured data"
+HOMEPAGE="https://protobuf.dev/"
+
+LICENSE="BSD"
+IUSE="conformance debug emacs examples +libprotoc +libupb +protobuf +protoc test zlib"
+
+# Require protobuf for the time being
+REQUIRED_USE="
+	protobuf
+	protobuf? ( protoc )
+	examples? ( protobuf )
+	libprotoc? ( protobuf )
+	libupb? ( protobuf )
+	protoc? ( libupb )
+"
+
+RESTRICT="!test? ( test )"
+
+BDEPEND="
+	emacs? ( app-editors/emacs:* )
+"
+
+COMMON_DEPEND="
+	>=dev-cpp/abseil-cpp-${ABSEIL_MIN_VER}:=[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}]
+	zlib? ( virtual/zlib:=[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}] )
+"
+
+DEPEND="
+	${COMMON_DEPEND}
+	conformance? ( dev-libs/jsoncpp[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}] )
+	test? (
+		|| (
+			dev-cpp/abseil-cpp[test-helpers(-)]
+			dev-cpp/abseil-cpp[test]
+		)
+		dev-cpp/gtest[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}]
+	)
+"
+RDEPEND="
+	${COMMON_DEPEND}
+	${BDEPEND}
+"
+
+PATCHES=(
+	"${FILESDIR}/${PN}-23.3-static_assert-failure.patch"
+	"${FILESDIR}/${PN}-30.0-findJsonCpp.patch"
+)
+
+DOCS=( CONTRIBUTORS.txt README.md )
+
+src_prepare() {
+	cmake_src_prepare
+
+	cp "${FILESDIR}/FindJsonCpp.cmake" "${S}/cmake" || die
+}
+
+multilib_src_configure() {
+	# bug #963340 (seems to only happen when upgrading from older pb,
+	# possibly w/o tests too).
+	use libupb && filter-lto
+
+	# Currently, the only static library is libupb (and there is no
+	# USE=static-libs), so optimize away the fat-lto build time penalty.
+	use libupb && lto-guarantee-fat
+
+	local mycmakeargs=(
+		-Dprotobuf_BUILD_CONFORMANCE="$(usex test "$(usex conformance)")"
+		-Dprotobuf_BUILD_LIBPROTOC="$(usex libprotoc)"
+		-Dprotobuf_BUILD_LIBUPB="$(usex libupb)"
+		-Dprotobuf_BUILD_PROTOBUF_BINARIES="$(usex protobuf)"
+		-Dprotobuf_BUILD_PROTOC_BINARIES="$(usex protoc)"
+		-Dprotobuf_BUILD_SHARED_LIBS="yes"
+		-Dprotobuf_BUILD_TESTS="$(usex test)"
+
+		-Dprotobuf_DISABLE_RTTI="no"
+
+		-Dprotobuf_INSTALL="yes"
+		-Dprotobuf_TEST_XML_OUTDIR="$(usex test)"
+
+		-Dprotobuf_WITH_ZLIB="$(usex zlib)"
+		-Dprotobuf_VERBOSE="$(usex debug)"
+		-DCMAKE_MODULE_PATH="${S}/cmake"
+
+		-Dprotobuf_LOCAL_DEPENDENCIES_ONLY="yes"
+		# -Dprotobuf_FORCE_FETCH_DEPENDENCIES="no"
+	)
+	if use protobuf ; then
+		if use examples ; then
+			mycmakeargs+=(
+				-Dprotobuf_BUILD_EXAMPLES="$(usex examples)"
+				-Dprotobuf_INSTALL_EXAMPLES="$(usex examples)"
+			)
+		fi
+	fi
+
+	cmake_src_configure
+}
+
+src_compile() {
+	cmake-multilib_src_compile
+
+	if use emacs; then
+		elisp-compile editors/protobuf-mode.el
+	fi
+}
+
+# we override here to inject env vars
+multilib_src_test() {
+	local -x TEST_TMPDIR="${T%/}/TEST_TMPDIR_${ABI}"
+	mkdir -p -m 770 "${TEST_TMPDIR}" || die
+
+	ln -srf "${S}/src" "${BUILD_DIR}/include" || die
+
+	cmake_src_test "${_cmake_args[@]}"
+}
+
+src_test() {
+	local -x srcdir="${S}/src"
+
+	local GTEST_SKIP_TESTS=(
+		"PackedTest/12.DecodeEmptyPackedField"
+	)
+
+	if tc-is-lto; then
+		# Do headstands for LTO # 942985
+		GTEST_SKIP_TESTS+=(
+			"FileDescriptorSetSource/EncodeDecodeTest*"
+			"LazilyBuildDependenciesTest.GeneratedFile"
+			"PythonGeneratorTest/PythonGeneratorTest.PythonWithCppFeatures/*"
+		)
+	fi
+
+	if [[ ! -v GTEST_FILTER ]]; then
+		local -x GTEST_FILTER
+	fi
+
+	[[ -n ${GTEST_RUN_TESTS[*]} ]] && GTEST_FILTER+="$(IFS=':' ; echo "${GTEST_SKIP_TESTS[*]}")"
+	[[ -n ${GTEST_SKIP_TESTS[*]} ]] && GTEST_FILTER+="${GTEST_FILTER+:}-$(IFS=':' ; echo "${GTEST_SKIP_TESTS[*]}")"
+
+	cmake-multilib_src_test
+}
+
+multilib_src_install_all() {
+	use libupb && strip-lto-bytecode
+
+	find "${ED}" -name "*.la" -delete || die
+
+	if [[ ! -f "${ED}/usr/$(get_libdir)/libprotobuf$(get_libname "${SLOT#*/}")" ]]; then
+		eerror "No matching library found with SLOT variable, currently set: ${SLOT}\n" \
+			"Expected value: ${ED}/usr/$(get_libdir)/libprotobuf$(get_libname "${SLOT#*/}")"
+		die "Please update SLOT variable"
+	fi
+
+	insinto /usr/share/vim/vimfiles/syntax
+	doins editors/proto.vim
+	insinto /usr/share/vim/vimfiles/ftdetect
+	doins "${FILESDIR}/proto.vim"
+
+	if use emacs; then
+		elisp-install "${PN}" editors/protobuf-mode.el*
+		elisp-site-file-install "${FILESDIR}/70${PN}-gentoo.el"
+	fi
+
+	if use examples; then
+		DOCS+=(examples)
+		docompress -x "/usr/share/doc/${PF}/examples"
+	fi
+
+	einstalldocs
+}
+
+pkg_postinst() {
+	use emacs && elisp-site-regen
+}
+
+pkg_postrm() {
+	use emacs && elisp-site-regen
+}
diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-9999.ebuild b/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-9999.ebuild
index 1df6a650e0..c8f1615d65 100644
--- a/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-9999.ebuild
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/dev-libs/protobuf/protobuf-9999.ebuild
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ BDEPEND="
 
 COMMON_DEPEND="
 	>=dev-cpp/abseil-cpp-${ABSEIL_MIN_VER}:=[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}]
-	zlib? ( sys-libs/zlib[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}] )
+	zlib? ( virtual/zlib:=[${MULTILIB_USEDEP}] )
 "
 
 DEPEND="
@@ -65,7 +65,6 @@ RDEPEND="
 
 PATCHES=(
 	"${FILESDIR}/${PN}-23.3-static_assert-failure.patch"
-	# "${FILESDIR}/${PN}-28.0-disable-test_upb-lto.patch" # applied manually
 	"${FILESDIR}/${PN}-30.0-findJsonCpp.patch"
 )
 
@@ -74,10 +73,6 @@ DOCS=( CONTRIBUTORS.txt README.md )
 src_prepare() {
 	cmake_src_prepare
 
-# 	if tc-is-lto; then
-# 		eapply "${FILESDIR}/${PN}-28.0-disable-test_upb-lto.patch"
-# 	fi
-
 	cp "${FILESDIR}/FindJsonCpp.cmake" "${S}/cmake" || die
 }
 
@@ -160,20 +155,16 @@ src_test() {
 	if [[ ! -v GTEST_FILTER ]]; then
 		local -x GTEST_FILTER
 	fi
+
 	[[ -n ${GTEST_RUN_TESTS[*]} ]] && GTEST_FILTER+="$(IFS=':' ; echo "${GTEST_SKIP_TESTS[*]}")"
 	[[ -n ${GTEST_SKIP_TESTS[*]} ]] && GTEST_FILTER+="${GTEST_FILTER+:}-$(IFS=':' ; echo "${GTEST_SKIP_TESTS[*]}")"
 
 	cmake-multilib_src_test
-
-# 	if tc-is-lto; then
-# 		GTEST_FILTER="${GTEST_FILTER//-/}"
-#
-# 		cmake-multilib_src_test
-# 	fi
 }
 
 multilib_src_install_all() {
 	use libupb && strip-lto-bytecode
+
 	find "${ED}" -name "*.la" -delete || die
 
 	if [[ ! -f "${ED}/usr/$(get_libdir)/libprotobuf$(get_libname "${SLOT#*/}")" ]]; then