diff --git a/base/mk/dep_lib.mk b/base/mk/dep_lib.mk
index e72e8ac08..e9035303b 100644
--- a/base/mk/dep_lib.mk
+++ b/base/mk/dep_lib.mk
@@ -16,6 +16,11 @@
 #   INSTALL_DIR      - destination directory for installing shared libraries
 #
 
+#
+# Utility for selecting files from the list of repositories
+#
+select_from_repositories = $(firstword $(foreach REP,$(REPOSITORIES),$(wildcard $(REP)/$(1))))
+
 #
 # Generate dependencies only for those libs that are
 # not already contained in the library build log