"error: cannot find the library '/usr/local/lib/libaprutil-1.la'"

$ get-ports-updating-note 20140909

AFFECTS: users seeing build errors about missing *.la files
AUTHOR: tijl@FreeBSD.org

We are in the process of adjusting or, if possible, removing libtool archives
(*.la files) from all ports because they can otherwise cause overlinking
between packages.  This is the problem where in the dependency chain A->B->C
an extra link is added from A to C even if A does not use C directly.  This
makes some updates to port C expensive because then both A and B have to be
rebuilt instead of just B.

This is mostly behind the scenes work that you won't notice.  In fact most
ports have already been converted.  You may however run into build errors
about missing *.la files if a port update in the past went wrong and left
behind *.la files with references to other *.la files that are no longer
there.  In this case, please run the following command:

find /usr/local/lib -name '*.la' | xargs grep -l 'libfoo\.la' | xargs pkg which
(Replace libfoo\.la with the *.la file that is missing.)

This command will print a list of *.la files that refer to the missing *.la
file and what package they belong to.  First, where it says "not found in
the database", remove the *.la file.  After removing all such files, where
it says "installed by package X", rebuild X.  Eventually the list printed by
that command will be empty and the build error should be gone.