I've attempted to build applying this patch.  what I get is below.  This seems to be related to Debian bug 
#427260  also connected to am-utils


onfigure: *** INITIALIZATION ***
configure: *** SYSTEM TYPES ***
checking build system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
checking host system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
checking host cpu... x86_64
checking vendor... unknown
checking host full OS name and version... linux
checking host OS name... linux
checking host OS version... 2.6.32-25-generic
checking host OS architecture... x86_64
checking OS system distribution... deb
checking host name... james-pc
checking user name... james
checking configuration date... Fri Oct 15 12:30:19 PDT 2010
configure: *** PACKAGE NAME AND VERSION ***
checking package name... "am-utils"
checking version of package... "6.1.5"
checking bug-reporting address... "https://bugzilla.am-utils.org/ or <email address hidden>"
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for gawk... gawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes
configure: *** PARTICULAR PROGRAMS (part 1) ***
checking for gcc... gcc
checking for C compiler default output file name... a.out
checking whether the C compiler works... yes
checking whether we are cross compiling... no
checking for suffix of executables... 
checking for suffix of object files... o
checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... yes
checking whether gcc accepts -g... yes
checking for gcc option to accept ANSI C... none needed
checking for style of include used by make... GNU
checking dependency style of gcc... gcc3
checking how to run the C preprocessor... gcc -E
checking whether gcc and cc understand -c and -o together... yes
checking for egrep... grep -E
checking whether gcc needs -traditional... no
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... (cached) yes
checking for library containing strerror... none required
checking for AIX... no
configure: *** OPTION PROCESSING ***
checking if ldap is wanted... yes, will enable if all libraries are found
checking if hesiod is wanted... yes, will enable if all libraries are found
checking if ndbm is wanted... yes, will enable if all libraries are found
checking for debugging options... no
checking for configuration/compilation (-I) preprocessor flags... none
checking for configuration/compilation (-l) library flags... none
checking for configuration/compilation (-L) library flags... none
checking for additional C option compilation flags... none
checking a local configuration file... yes
checking whether to enable maintainer-specific portions of Makefiles... no
configure: *** LIBTOOL ***
checking for a sed that does not truncate output... /bin/sed
checking for ld used by gcc... /usr/bin/ld
checking if the linker (/usr/bin/ld) is GNU ld... yes
checking for /usr/bin/ld option to reload object files... -r
checking for BSD-compatible nm... /usr/bin/nm -B
checking whether ln -s works... yes
checking how to recognise dependent libraries... pass_all
checking for ANSI C header files... yes
checking for sys/types.h... yes
checking for sys/stat.h... yes
checking for stdlib.h... yes
checking for string.h... yes
checking for memory.h... yes
checking for strings.h... yes
checking for inttypes.h... yes
checking for stdint.h... yes
checking for unistd.h... yes
checking dlfcn.h usability... yes
checking dlfcn.h presence... yes
checking for dlfcn.h... yes
checking for g++... g++
checking whether we are using the GNU C++ compiler... yes
checking whether g++ accepts -g... yes
checking dependency style of g++... gcc3
checking how to run the C++ preprocessor... g++ -E
checking for g77... no
checking for f77... no
checking for xlf... no
checking for frt... no
checking for pgf77... no
checking for fort77... no
checking for fl32... no
checking for af77... no
checking for f90... no
checking for xlf90... no
checking for pgf90... no
checking for epcf90... no
checking for f95... no
checking for fort... no
checking for xlf95... no
checking for ifc... no
checking for efc... no
checking for pgf95... no
checking for lf95... no
checking for gfortran... no
checking whether we are using the GNU Fortran 77 compiler... no
checking whether  accepts -g... no
checking the maximum length of command line arguments... 32768
checking command to parse /usr/bin/nm -B output from gcc object... ok
checking for objdir... .libs
checking for ar... ar
checking for ranlib... ranlib
checking for strip... strip
checking if gcc static flag  works... yes
checking if gcc supports -fno-rtti -fno-exceptions... no
checking for gcc option to produce PIC... -fPIC
checking if gcc PIC flag -fPIC works... yes
checking if gcc supports -c -o file.o... yes
checking whether the gcc linker (/usr/bin/ld -m elf_x86_64) supports shared libraries... yes
checking dynamic linker characteristics... GNU/Linux ld.so
checking how to hardcode library paths into programs... immediate
checking whether stripping libraries is possible... yes
checking if libtool supports shared libraries... yes
checking whether to build shared libraries... no
checking whether to build static libraries... yes
configure: creating libtool
appending configuration tag "CXX" to libtool
checking for ld used by g++... /usr/bin/ld -m elf_x86_64
checking if the linker (/usr/bin/ld -m elf_x86_64) is GNU ld... yes
checking whether the g++ linker (/usr/bin/ld -m elf_x86_64) supports shared libraries... yes
checking for g++ option to produce PIC... -fPIC
checking if g++ PIC flag -fPIC works... yes
checking if g++ supports -c -o file.o... yes
checking whether the g++ linker (/usr/bin/ld -m elf_x86_64) supports shared libraries... yes
checking dynamic linker characteristics... GNU/Linux ld.so
checking how to hardcode library paths into programs... immediate
checking whether stripping libraries is possible... yes
appending configuration tag "F77" to libtool
configure: *** EXTRA OPTION PROCESSING ***
checking additional preprocessor flags... 
checking additional compiler flags... 
checking additional linker flags... 
configure: *** UNIX VARIANTS ***
checking "host headers version"... 
configure: error: cannot find UTS_RELEASE in <linux/version.h>.
  This Linux system may be misconfigured or unconfigured!