I encountered the same problem with Debian Lenny, so I now recompile the package myself. It works well.
Same here on Ubuntu 8.10. However it doesn't compile out of the box. I use the following patch for the debian rules file to make it work. diff -upr dovecot-1.2.beta4.orig/debian/rules dovecot-1.2.beta4/debian/rules --- dovecot-1.2.beta4.orig/debian/rules 2009-03-29 11:12:32.000000000 +0200 +++ dovecot-1.2.beta4/debian/rules 2009-03-29 11:13:24.000000000 +0200 @@ -24,8 +24,16 @@ config.status: patch-stamp configure cp -f /usr/share/misc/config.sub config.sub -test -r /usr/share/misc/config.guess && \ cp -f /usr/share/misc/config.guess config.guess - aclocal-1.9 && automake-1.9 --add-missing --copy && libtoolize -f -c && aclocal-1.9 && autoconf - # Add here commands to configure the package. +# aclocal-1.9; automake-1.9 --add-missing --copy; libtoolize -f -c; aclocal-1.9; autoconf + aclocal-1.9 + automake-1.9 --add-missing --copy + libtoolize -f -c + -test -r /usr/share/misc/config.sub && \ + cp -f /usr/share/misc/config.sub config.sub + -test -r /usr/share/misc/config.guess && \ + cp -f /usr/share/misc/config.guess config.guess + aclocal-1.9 + autoconf ./configure --with-ldap \ --with-ssl=openssl \ --with-db \ @@ -47,23 +55,29 @@ config.status: patch-stamp configure --infodir=\$${prefix}/share/info \ --with-moduledir=\$${prefix}/lib/dovecot/modules \ --disable-static + # dovecot-sieve plugin - -test -r /usr/share/misc/config.sub && \ - mv dovecot-sieve/config.sub dovecot-sieve/config.sub.orig && \ - cp -f /usr/share/misc/config.sub dovecot-sieve/config.sub - -test -r /usr/share/misc/config.guess && \ - mv dovecot-sieve/config.guess dovecot-sieve/config.guess.orig && \ - cp -f /usr/share/misc/config.guess dovecot-sieve/config.guess - (cd dovecot-sieve/ && aclocal-1.9 && automake-1.9 --add-missing --copy && libtoolize -f -c && aclocal-1.9 && autoconf) + ( \ + cd dovecot-sieve/ && aclocal-1.9; \ + automake-1.9 --add-missing; libtoolize -f -c; \ + test -r /usr/share/misc/config.sub && \ + cp -f /usr/share/misc/config.sub config.sub; \ + test -r /usr/share/misc/config.guess && \ + cp -f /usr/share/misc/config.guess config.guess; \ + aclocal-1.9; autoconf \ + ) + # dovecot-managesieve module - -test -r /usr/share/misc/config.sub && \ - mv dovecot-managesieve/config.sub dovecot-managesieve/config.sub.orig && \ - cp -f /usr/share/misc/config.sub dovecot-managesieve/config.sub - -test -r /usr/share/misc/config.guess && \ - mv dovecot-managesieve/config.guess dovecot-managesieve/config.guess.orig && \ - cp -f /usr/share/misc/config.guess dovecot-managesieve/config.guess + ( \ + cd dovecot-managesieve/ && aclocal-1.9; \ + automake-1.9 --add-missing; libtoolize -f -c; \ + test -r /usr/share/misc/config.sub && \ + cp -f /usr/share/misc/config.sub config.sub; \ + test -r /usr/share/misc/config.guess && \ + cp -f /usr/share/misc/config.guess config.guess; \ + aclocal-1.9; autoconf \ + ) cp dovecot-managesieve/README dovecot-managesieve/managesieve.README - (cd dovecot-managesieve/ && aclocal-1.9 && automake-1.9 --add-missing --copy && libtoolize -f -c && aclocal-1.9 && autoconf) build: build-stamp build-stamp: config.status