can libphp4.so use static libs?

I have a case where my muscat php module which requires a static muscat lib (libhdmuscat.3.6) to be linked into libphp4.so This works fine. Yet on another system: nm -Algn libphp4.so lists 4 unresolved symbols which should have been linked to libhdmuscat.3.6 hdmuscat.3.6 is listed in the .la files properly along with all the required paths. Both systems are solaris 2.7 with latest m4,automake,autoconf,libtool. One has egcs 1.1.2 and the other gcc 1.95.1 a few months later. The gcc system fails; the egcs works, as far as I can tell it is the only difference. The linker is trying to use hdmuscat because if I move it before final link, it complains. Should this work? Or should I try and build a shared library out of hdmuscat (can I) and work that way? Sam