how to filter-out a word sequence?

[David Boyce]

My build model has a common link line which contains a number of -z 
options (-z is a way of passing keywords to the linker on Linux and 
Solaris). For instance:

        $(CC) -o program -z combreloc -z noversion -z defs ...

 The problem is that occasionally a target will need one of these 
removed as a special case. But of course using $(filter-out -z 
foo,...) will remove *all* the -z flags, leaving the other keywords 
hanging there alone, while quoting the string like $(filter-out "-z 
foo",...) doesn't match anything. Does anybody know a reasonable way 
to remove a whitespace-containing string? I can think of ways 
involving $(shell) with but would prefer to do it all within the make 
process. Another complication is that, because this needs to be 
compatible with clearmake's GNU-compatibility mode, I'm limited to 
those features available since GNU make 3.76 or so.

Thanks,
David Boyce