Depend on a local library in a different source directory

[Sylvain Beucler]

Hi,

I have the following layout:
  lib/
  lib/Makefile.am
  lib/mylib.la
  lib/python/
  lib/python/Makefile.am
  lib/python/_pymylib.la
  
When building, 'make' enters 'lib/python/' first without building
'mylib.la'. Since '_pymylib.la' depends on it, compilation fails.


Another example: I have a similar issue with gnulib:
  gnulib/
  gnulib/lib/
  gnulib/lib/Makefile.am
  gnulib/lib/gnulib.a
  src/
  src/Makefile.am
  src/myprog

where I couldn't find a way to build 'gnulib.a' first if typing 'make'
directly from 'src/' (though in this case, typing 'make' at
$top_builddir usually build things in the right order).


I tried a number of tricks but I didn't find a clean solution for
this.


So what is the proper way to tell automake to build a local library
that is located in a different directory of the same source package
_before_ building the current directory?


Thanks!

-- 
Sylvain