Problem compiling sablevm-1.1.9 on Debian

I want to compile and install sablevm on my new Debian installation and 
I'm having some problems in the first step of the installation of 
sablevm-1.1.9.tar.gz (./configure). Here is the output I get when I do 
./configure:

Passion% ./configure
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for gawk... no
checking for mawk... mawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes
checking build system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking host system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking for gawk... (cached) mawk
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 for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether ln -s works... yes
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... (cached) yes
checking for a sed that does not truncate output... /bin/sed
checking for egrep... grep -E
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 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) supports shared 
libraries... yes
checking whether -lc should be explicitly linked in... no
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 for shl_load... no
checking for shl_load in -ldld... no
checking for dlopen... no
checking for dlopen in -ldl... yes
checking whether a program can dlopen itself... yes
checking whether a statically linked program can dlopen itself... yes
checking if libtool supports shared libraries... yes
checking whether to build shared libraries... yes
checking whether to build static libraries... no
configure: creating libtool
appending configuration tag "CXX" to libtool
checking for ld used by g++... /usr/bin/ld
checking if the linker (/usr/bin/ld) is GNU ld... yes
checking whether the g++ linker (/usr/bin/ld) supports shared 
libraries... yes
libtool.m4: error: problem compiling CXX test program
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) 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 for shl_load... (cached) no
checking for shl_load in -ldld... (cached) no
checking for dlopen... (cached) no
checking for dlopen in -ldl... (cached) yes
checking whether a program can dlopen itself... (cached) yes
checking whether a statically linked program can dlopen itself... 
(cached) yes
appending configuration tag "F77" to libtool
checking for ffi_prep_cif in -lffi... no
***ERROR: libffi is missing

But this librairy is in fact installed:

Passion% dpkg -l | grep libffi
ii  libffi2        3.3.5-6        Foreign Function Interface library 
runtime
ii  libffi2-dev    3.3.5-6        Foreign Function Interface library 
(developm
Passion% locate libffi
/usr/lib/libffi.a
/usr/lib/libffi.la
/usr/lib/libffi.so
/usr/lib/libffi.so.2
/usr/lib/libffi.so.2.0.0
/usr/share/doc/kaffe/FAQ/FAQ.libffi
/usr/share/doc/libffi2
/usr/share/doc/libffi2/changelog.Debian.gz
/usr/share/doc/libffi2/changelog.gz
/usr/share/doc/libffi2/changelog.libgcj.gz
/usr/share/doc/libffi2/copyright
/usr/share/doc/libffi2-dev
/usr/share/doc/libffi2/README.gz
/var/cache/apt/archives/libffi2_1%3a3.3.5-6_i386.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/libffi2-dev_1%3a3.3.5-6_i386.deb
/var/lib/dpkg/info/libffi2-dev.list
/var/lib/dpkg/info/libffi2-dev.md5sums
/var/lib/dpkg/info/libffi2.list
/var/lib/dpkg/info/libffi2.md5sums
/var/lib/dpkg/info/libffi2.postinst
/var/lib/dpkg/info/libffi2.postrm
/var/lib/dpkg/info/libffi2.preinst
/var/lib/dpkg/info/libffi2.shlibs
Passion%

I don't understand why the error appears, the libffi is installed. 
Previous to doing ./configure I installed with the apt-get install 
command all the libraries specified in the INSTALL file (libffi2-dev, 
libtool, libltdl3-dev, libpopt-dev, zlib1g-dev). I compiled sablevm 
before on an other machine and didn't get this problem, could anyone 
help ? or have any idea why this is occuring ? 

-- 
Sebastien Vezina
[email protected]