One of the significant differences between the makefiles for linux and bsd is
this:

-ifdef LIBRARY - # Libraries need to locate other libraries at runtime, and you can tell - # a library where to look by way of the dynamic runpaths (RPATH or RUNPATH) - # buried inside the .so. The $ORIGIN says to look relative to where - # the library itself is and it can be followed with relative paths from - # that. By default we always look in $ORIGIN, optionally we add relative - # paths if the Makefile sets LD_RUNPATH_EXTRAS to those relative paths. - # On Linux we add a flag -z origin, not sure if this is necessary, but - # doesn't seem to hurt. - # The environment variable LD_LIBRARY_PATH will over-ride these runpaths. - # Try: 'readelf -d lib*.so' to see these settings in a library. - # - LDFLAGS_COMMON += -Xlinker -z -Xlinker origin -Xlinker -rpath -Xlinker
\$$ORIGIN - LDFLAGS_COMMON += $(LD_RUNPATH_EXTRAS:%=-Xlinker -z -Xlinker origin -Xlinker
-rpath -Xlinker \$$ORIGIN/%) -endif

(See output of "diff -u make/common/Defs-{linux,bsd}.gmk".)

I don't know if there is an equivalent BSD dyld feature for Solaris and Linux
$ORIGIN, but the lack of it, or the lack of use of it, may be causing the
problem we are seeing.

The $ORIGIN hack seems like the sort of thing which Mac OS X would do better;
does anyone know the Mac or BSD story here?

The original version of the BSD file omits mention of LD_RUNPATH_EXTRAS, while
the original version of linux and solaris files has it, so it's hard to tell who
to ask about the change.

-- John