took 90 mins to do everything I managed to include so far.
1.3 Gb of software. I now have aalib working

aafire test works
This is a big step forward.
That's a custom inclusion in buildroot. custom Config.in with a new fully customized skeleton for the kindle - targetting the correct structure now.
I also had a look how hard it might be to whip up a CATCH-ALL fixer-upper script to apply to existing and new Configure.in s automatically. Also to locally cascade the new optional dependencies satisfied by aalib, a few things support it IIRC.
It's a toughie with handballed files in the mix to do this all on-auto but I'm thinking on it. This IS something I am good at (Thank my lucky stars had to happen eventually)
On the kindle side I now can hack the right libs to start, more or less, at whim. without too much 'ld' gripes and no updating the core config.
People may well already know all about LD_PRELOAD and LD_LIBRARY_PATH and friends. for my part this is helpful info. Since stuff now works. In a large way. from FAT. Without linking. who knew.
(thanks you NiLuje for the pointers, and HIDI for a working example)
prboom is just a step away... Lots of fun being had here. Happy to share.