diff --git a/makepanda/makepandacore.py b/makepanda/makepandacore.py
index a4fe82513f..a62dfa0951 100644
--- a/makepanda/makepandacore.py
+++ b/makepanda/makepandacore.py
@@ -1409,10 +1409,16 @@ def PkgConfigEnable(opt, pkgname, tool = "pkg-config"):
     for i, j in PkgConfigGetDefSymbols(pkgname, tool).items():
         DefSymbol(opt, i, j)
 
-def LocateLibrary(lib, lpath=[]):
-    """ Returns True if this library was found in the given search path, False otherwise. """
+def LocateLibrary(lib, lpath=[], prefer_static=False):
+    """Searches for the library in the search path, returning its path if found,
+    or None if it was not found."""
     target = GetTarget()
 
+    if prefer_static and target != 'windows':
+        for dir in lpath:
+            if os.path.isfile(os.path.join(dir, 'lib%s.a' % lib)):
+                return os.path.join(dir, 'lib%s.a' % lib)
+
     for dir in lpath:
         if target == 'darwin' and os.path.isfile(os.path.join(dir, 'lib%s.dylib' % lib)):
             return os.path.join(dir, 'lib%s.dylib' % lib)
@@ -1484,6 +1490,7 @@ def SmartPkgEnable(pkg, pkgconfig = None, libs = None, incs = None, defs = None,
         LibName(target_pkg, "-lswresample")
         return
 
+    # First check if the package is in the thirdparty directory.
     pkg_dir = os.path.join(GetThirdpartyDir(), pkg.lower())
     if not custom_loc and os.path.isdir(pkg_dir):
         if framework and os.path.isdir(os.path.join(pkg_dir, framework + ".framework")):
@@ -1494,32 +1501,55 @@ def SmartPkgEnable(pkg, pkgconfig = None, libs = None, incs = None, defs = None,
         if os.path.isdir(os.path.join(pkg_dir, "include")):
             IncDirectory(target_pkg, os.path.join(pkg_dir, "include"))
 
-        if os.path.isdir(os.path.join(pkg_dir, "lib")):
-            LibDirectory(target_pkg, os.path.join(pkg_dir, "lib"))
+            # Handle cases like freetype2 where the include dir is a subdir under "include"
+            for i in incs:
+                if os.path.isdir(os.path.join(pkg_dir, "include", i)):
+                    IncDirectory(target_pkg, os.path.join(pkg_dir, "include", i))
 
-        if (PkgSkip("PYTHON") == 0):
+        lpath = [os.path.join(pkg_dir, "lib")]
+
+        if not PkgSkip("PYTHON"):
             py_lib_dir = os.path.join(pkg_dir, "lib", SDK["PYTHONVERSION"])
             if os.path.isdir(py_lib_dir):
-                LibDirectory(target_pkg, py_lib_dir)
+                lpath.append(py_lib_dir)
 
-        # TODO: check for a .pc file in the lib/pkg-config/ dir
+        # TODO: check for a .pc file in the lib/pkgconfig/ dir
         if (tool != None and os.path.isfile(os.path.join(pkg_dir, "bin", tool))):
             tool = os.path.join(pkg_dir, "bin", tool)
             for i in PkgConfigGetLibs(None, tool):
-                LibName(target_pkg, i)
+                if i.startswith('-l'):
+                    # To make sure we don't pick up the system copy, write out
+                    # the full path instead.
+                    libname = i[2:]
+                    location = LocateLibrary(libname, lpath, prefer_static=True)
+                    if location is not None:
+                        LibName(target_pkg, location)
+                    else:
+                        print(GetColor("cyan") + "Couldn't find library lib" + libname + " in thirdparty directory " + pkg.lower() + GetColor())
+                        LibName(target_pkg, i)
+                else:
+                    LibName(target_pkg, i)
             for i, j in PkgConfigGetDefSymbols(None, tool).items():
                 DefSymbol(target_pkg, i, j)
             return
 
+        # Now search for the libraries in the package's lib directories.
         for l in libs:
             libname = l
             if l.startswith("lib"):
                 libname = l[3:]
-            # This is for backward compatibility - in the thirdparty dir, we kept some libs with "panda" prefix, like libpandatiff.
-            if len(glob.glob(os.path.join(pkg_dir, "lib", "libpanda%s.*" % (libname)))) > 0 \
-               and len(glob.glob(os.path.join(pkg_dir, "lib", "lib%s.*" % (libname)))) == 0:
-                libname = "panda" + libname
-            LibName(target_pkg, "-l" + libname)
+
+            location = LocateLibrary(libname, lpath, prefer_static=True)
+            if location is not None:
+                LibName(target_pkg, location)
+            else:
+                # This is for backward compatibility - in the thirdparty dir,
+                # we kept some libs with "panda" prefix, like libpandatiff.
+                location = LocateLibrary("panda" + libname, lpath, prefer_static=True)
+                if location is not None:
+                    LibName(target_pkg, location)
+                else:
+                    print(GetColor("cyan") + "Couldn't find library lib" + libname + " in thirdparty directory " + pkg.lower() + GetColor())
 
         for d, v in defs.values():
             DefSymbol(target_pkg, d, v)