=== modified file 'debian/rules'
--- debian/rules	2010-06-17 15:30:31 +0000
+++ debian/rules	2010-07-05 15:33:19 +0000
@@ -1078,6 +1078,12 @@
 ADDITIONAL_TARGETS = --enable-targets=s390-linux-gnu
 endif
 
+# adding the host to supported targets helps with cross-compiling libtool: when
+# using convenience .la libs, libtool prepends -rpath $libdir which is usually
+# /usr/lib on Debian/Ubuntu systems; this causes ld to fail when it encounters
+# libs such as libc.a from an unknown architecture (the host's)
+ADDITIONAL_TARGETS += --enable-targets=$(DEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE)
+
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------
 # sysroot options
 ifdef WITH_SYSROOT