Hi all,

1.
The installation of bbdb fails due to a bug in
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/bbdb/lisp/Makefile
The single quotes make the ending backslashes show up in the lisp code passed to emacs.

2.
The real problem is, that the install continues after throwing an error.

fix for 1.
debian:/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/bbdb/lisp# diff -u Makefile.dist Makefile
--- Makefile.dist       2006-01-06 15:47:30.000000000 +0100
+++ Makefile    2006-01-06 15:48:09.000000000 +0100
@@ -154,10 +154,10 @@

 bbdb-hooks.elc:  bbdb.elc bbdb-hooks.el
        @$(EMACS_PROG) -batch -q $(PUSHPATH) -l ./bbdb.elc \
-       -eval '(and (not (string= "$(VMDIR)" "")) \
-                   (setq load-path (cons "$(VMDIR)" load-path)) \
-                   (load "vm" t t) \
-                   (load "vm-vars" t t))' \
+       -eval "(and (not (string= \"$(VMDIR)\" \"\")) \
+                   (setq load-path (cons \"$(VMDIR)\" load-path)) \
+                   (load \"vm\" t t) \
+                   (load \"vm-vars\" t t))" \
        -f batch-byte-compile $(@:.elc=.el)

 autoloads: bbdb-autoloads.el

This probably closes #345186 and #345297, too.

For 2. I don't have an answer, but look at this excerpt from
/usr/share/${FLAVOUR}/site-lisp/bbdb/CompilationLog.gz
indented and edited for readability

    Generating bbdb-autoloads
    cd lisp; make autoloads
    make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/share/emacs-snapshot/site-lisp/bbdb/lisp'
    ...
    Generating autoloads for bbdb.el...
    Generating autoloads for bbdb.el...done
    Wrote /usr/share/emacs-snapshot/site-lisp/bbdb/lisp/bbdb-autoloads.el
    make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/share/emacs-snapshot/site-lisp/bbdb/lisp'

    cd lisp; make rmail
    make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/share/emacs-snapshot/site-lisp/bbdb/lisp'
    Loading 00debian-vars...
    ...
    Loading 50bbdb (source)...
    ...
    Wrote /usr/share/emacs-snapshot/site-lisp/bbdb/lisp/bbdb.elc
    ...
    Loading 50bbdb (source)...
    ...
    Wrote /usr/share/emacs-snapshot/site-lisp/bbdb/lisp/bbdb-com.elc
    ...
    Loading 50bbdb (source)...
    ...
    Symbol's value as variable is void: \

    make[1]: *** [bbdb-hooks.elc] Error 255
    make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/share/emacs-snapshot/site-lisp/bbdb/lisp'
    make: *** [rmail] Error 2

At this point an error occured, bbdb-hooks.elc is not created, however:
make in this directory stops, but the install-script (? or make) continues ...

    ...
    Loading 50bbdb (source)...
    Error while loading 50bbdb

Here the above error shows itself again ? ...

    ...
    Wrote /usr/share/emacs-snapshot/site-lisp/bbdb/bbdb-213-310.elc
    Wrote /usr/share/emacs-snapshot/site-lisp/bbdb/bbdb-415-510.elc

    In end of data:
    bbdb-pilot-jwz.el:584:1:Warning: the following functions are not known to be
        defined: bbdb-address-street1, bbdb-address-street2, bbdb-address-street3,
        bbdb-parse-phone-number, bbdb-parse-zip-string, bbdb-address-set-street1,
        bbdb-address-set-street2, bbdb-address-set-street3
    Wrote /usr/share/emacs-snapshot/site-lisp/bbdb/bbdb-pilot-jwz.elc

    In bbdb-to-netscape:
    bbdb-to-netscape.el:80:24:Warning: reference to free variable
        `bbdb-define-all-aliases-field'

    In end of data:
    bbdb-to-netscape.el:213:1:Warning: the following functions are not known to be
        defined: bbdb-search, bbdb-address-street1, bbdb-address-street2,
        bbdb-address-street3
    Wrote /usr/share/emacs-snapshot/site-lisp/bbdb/bbdb-to-netscape.elc
    *** installing not-compiled bbdb-gnus.el ***
    install -m 644 /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/bbdb/lisp/bbdb-gnus.el
/usr/share/emacs-snapshot/site-lisp/bbdb


At this point the Logfile ends, but is it complete?

Cheers,
Erich