autotools projects +gcc / ld - detecting "-static" doesn't work

Unsure if this should actually work or not.

e.g. "checking if gcc static flag -static works ... result: no"

But the output indicates a warning from `ld` - not necessarily that this doesn't work.

"ld: warning: linking abicalls files with non-abicalls files".

Needs a standalone test to see if this is actually working, and whether `ld` should be tweaked to stop emitting the warning.