static convenience library issue

[Joe Orton]

Static convenience libraries seem to behave slightly differently when
linked into programs from when into a library: when linked into a
library, they really do behave as an "an alias to a set of object files
and dependency libraries", as libtool passes -Wl,--whole-archive around
the .a file passed on the link line.

When linked into a program, a static convenience library does *not* act 
as an alias for a set of object files, as --whole-archive is not used.  
So any object files in the library which do not have symbols referenced 
by other objects linked into the program get dropped on the floor.

Am I understanding this correctly?  Is there any way to achieve the
latter behaviour with libtool: to build a library which really just acts
as an alias for a set of .o files when linked into a program?

Regards,

joe