VPATH/vpath: does it work for -l<libname> prereqs?

[Matt England]

VPATH/vpath: does it work for -l<libname> prereqs?

I can get it (VPATH/vpath) to work for single-directory library 
dependencies (I think), but when I start adding a list of directories for 
which I want VPATH/vpath (either or both, vpath with %.a, %.so, or %), 
things break down.

For example, I have my own $(MY_EXTERNAL_LIBS)/libboost_filesystem.so , but 
when I add $(MY_EXTERNAL_LIBS) to the VPATH, the aforementioned .so file 
gets replaced by /usr/lib/libboost_filesystem.so in the linker command of 
the rule (which is using $^).

Further, the libraries in $(MY_EXTERNAL_LIBS) which are not also found in 
/usr/lib (and the other system lib dirs)

This leads me to suspect that either vpath/VPATH for lib dependencies 
and/or multiple dir paths is faulty...or I'm using it in a faulty way.

I'm running GNU make 3.80 on CentOS4.0 (RHEL 4.0).

If I can't figure this out, I'll be attempting to isolate the problem and 
example environment in a tar-ball that I plan to email to this list...so 
you can see the entire picture (or at least as much as possible).

I have more investigating to do, but I wanted to toss this note to the list 
to see if some gurus are already familiar with my plight.

-Matt