Try what I tried in r23343 again...

build/common.gypi

 # Copyright (c) 2009 The Chromium Authors. All rights reserved.
 # Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be
 # found in the LICENSE file.
 
 {
   'variables': {
     # .gyp files should set chromium_code to 1 if they build Chromium-specific
     # code, as opposed to external code.  This variable is used to control
     # such things as the set of warnings to enable, and whether warnings are
     # treated as errors.
@@ skipping 76 matching lines @@
     # The architecture that we're building on.
     'target_arch%': 'ia32',
 
     # By default linux does not use views. To turn on views in Linux
     # set the variable GYP_DEFINES to "toolkit_views=1", or modify
     # ~/.gyp/include.gypi .
     'toolkit_views%': 0,
 
     'chromeos%': 0,
 
-    # Whether or not browser sync code is built in.
-    'chrome_personalization%': 1,
-
-    # Used to build and statically link a stub (no-op) syncapi engine.
-    'use_syncapi_stub%' : 1,
-
     # Set the restrictions on the SUID sandbox binary.
     #  Path: only exec the hard coded chrome binary path
     #  User: only exec binaries owned by the running user.
     #
     # Developers should read
     #  http://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/LinuxSUIDSandboxDevelopment
     'linux_suid_sandbox_restrictions%': 'Path',
 
     # This is the location of the sandbox binary. Chrome looks for this before
     # running the zygote process. If found, and SUID, it will be used to
@@ skipping 63 matching lines @@
         ],
       }, {  # else: branding!="Chrome"
         'defines': ['CHROMIUM_BUILD'],
       }],
       ['toolkit_views==1', {
         'defines': ['TOOLKIT_VIEWS=1'],
       }],
       ['chromeos==1', {
         'defines': ['OS_CHROMEOS=1'],
       }],
-      ['chrome_personalization==1', {
-        'conditions': [
-         ['OS=="win"', {
-           # For now sync is only enabled on windows.
-           'defines': ['CHROME_PERSONALIZATION=1'],
-         }],  # OS==win
-        ],  # conditions for chrome_personalization
-      }],  # chrome_personalization==1
-      ['use_syncapi_stub==1', {
-       'defines': ['COMPILING_SYNCAPI_STUB'],
-      }],  # use_syncapi_stub==1
       ['coverage!=0', {
         'conditions': [
           ['OS=="mac"', {
             'xcode_settings': {
               'GCC_INSTRUMENT_PROGRAM_FLOW_ARCS': 'YES',  # -fprofile-arcs
               'GCC_GENERATE_TEST_COVERAGE_FILES': 'YES',  # -ftest-coverage
             },
             # Add -lgcov for executables, not for static_libraries.
             # This is a delayed conditional.
             'target_conditions': [
@@ skipping 560 matching lines @@
     # settings in target dicts.  SYMROOT is a special case, because many other
     # Xcode variables depend on it, including variables such as
     # PROJECT_DERIVED_FILE_DIR.  When a source group corresponding to something
     # like PROJECT_DERIVED_FILE_DIR is added to a project, in order for the
     # files to appear (when present) in the UI as actual files and not red
     # red "missing file" proxies, the correct path to PROJECT_DERIVED_FILE_DIR,
     # and therefore SYMROOT, needs to be set at the project level.
     'SYMROOT': '<(DEPTH)/xcodebuild',
   },
 }