http://bugs.gentoo.org/259695

--- distel-4.03-orig/elisp/erl-service.el	2008-06-25 19:05:09.000000000 +0200
+++ distel-4.03/elisp/erl-service.el	2009-02-20 19:01:31.000000000 +0100
@@ -172,15 +172,18 @@
 	    (&erl-load-backend node))
 	   (_ t))))))
 
+(defvar distel-ebin-directory
+  (let ((elisp-directory
+	 (file-name-directory (or (locate-library "distel") load-file-name))))
+    (concat elisp-directory "../ebin"))
+  "Directory where beam files are located.")
+
 (defun &erl-load-backend (node)
-  (let* ((elisp-directory
-	  (file-name-directory (or (locate-library "distel") load-file-name)))
-	 (ebin-directory (concat elisp-directory "../ebin"))
-	 (modules '()))
-    (dolist (file (directory-files ebin-directory))
+  (let ((modules '()))
+    (dolist (file (directory-files distel-ebin-directory))
       (when (string-match "^\\(.*\\)\\.beam$" file)
 	(let ((module (intern (match-string 1 file)))
-	      (filename (concat ebin-directory "/" file)))
+	      (filename (concat distel-ebin-directory "/" file)))
 	  (push (list module filename) modules))))
     (if (null modules)
 	(erl-warn-backend-problem "don't have beam files")