chkshlib error: Cannot find .lib section (header)

[Tom Friedel]

I am trying to write a rather large shared library on 386/ix,
and it appears mkshlib is not generating the host library correctly.

When I run  chkshlib libtom_s.a libtom_s.a I get

Error: Cannot find .lib section (header)	file =libtom_s.a

ar and nm output of the host and target library appear normal.  
and if I link with the library I see

undefined			first referenced
 symbol  			    in file
/shlib/libtom.1[sharedlib.o] /usr/tom/src/libtom_s.a
/shlib/libtom.1[] /usr/tom/src/libtom_s.a
ld fatal: Symbol referencing errors. No output written to mwm

What might cause this to happen ?  Other (smaller?) libraries
have been o.k.

tom