In AIX 7.1 Apache modules not building as shared - apache2

Question

I want all my modules built with a .so extension so that they are shared. However, all my modules are building with a .la extension. Here are the contents of the module directory:
httpd.exp libmod_proxy_ajp.a libmod_speling.a mod_info.la mod_proxy_scgi.la
libmod_cern_meta.a libmod_proxy_balancer.a libmod_ssl.a mod_proxy.la mod_rewrite.la
libmod_dbd.a libmod_proxy_connect.a libmod_vhost_alias.a mod_proxy_ajp.la mod_speling.la
libmod_deflate.a libmod_proxy_ftp.a mod_cern_meta.la mod_proxy_balancer.la mod_ssl.la
libmod_expires.a libmod_proxy_http.a mod_dbd.la mod_proxy_connect.la mod_vhost_alias.la
libmod_info.a libmod_proxy_scgi.a mod_deflate.la mod_proxy_ftp.la
libmod_proxy.a libmod_rewrite.a mod_expires.la mod_proxy_http.la
Here is my configure command:
./configure \
--with-mpm=prefork \
--with-ssl=/opt/freeware \
--enable-cern-meta \
--enable-dbd \
--enable-deflate \
--enable-expires \
--enable-info \
--enable-proxy \
--enable-rewrite \
--enable-speling \
--enable-ssl \
--enable-vhost-alias \
--enable-mods-shared="cern_meta dbd deflate expires info proxy rewrite speling ssl vhost_alias"
I have done this many times in the past on AIX 5.2, 5.3 and 6.1 without issue.

Answer 1

.la files are libtool's library control file syntax. Notice they are really just small scripts. Check for your shared library objects inside the .libs directory. You might also explicitly tell configure that you want shared libraries with --enable-shared