undefined symbol woes

[Patrick Welche]

I am finding out the hard way about .la .lo etc files trying to compile
cvs httpd, with static modules, but I still haven't found the small
example to illustrate the problem. Essentially
libtool --mode=link gcc -export-dynamic -o httpd  modules.lo 
modules/aaa/mod_auth_basic.la
translates as
gcc -o .libs/httpd modules.o -Wl,--export-dynamic 
modules/aaa/.libs/mod_auth_basic.a -Wl,--rpath -Wl,/usr/local/lib
but
modules.o(.data+0x9c): undefined reference to `auth_basic_module'

Why would a .a file just contain the text !<arch> ?  
% more .libs/mod_auth_basic.a
!<arch>
% file .libs/mod_auth_basic.a
mod_auth_basic.a: current ar archive
% nm -g mod_auth_basic.o
...
00000000 D auth_basic_module
...
Yet auth_basic_module ends up undefined..

Any hints on how I can proceed?

% /usr/src/local/httpd-2.0/srclib/apr/libtool --version
ltmain.sh (GNU libtool) 1.5a (1.1342 2003/11/22 14:12:56)

Cheers,

Patrick