Comment 3 for bug 487903

I've found the problem in the end. This part of ubuntu's patch renders the package broken:

--- check-0.9.6.orig/check.m4
+++ check-0.9.6/check.m4
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@

 AC_DEFUN([AM_PATH_CHECK],
 [
- AC_MSG_WARN([A@&t@M_PATH_CHECK() is deprecated])
- AC_MSG_WARN([[use P@&t@KG_CHECK_MODULES([CHECK], [check >= 0.9.4]) instead]])
+ AC_MSG_WARN([AM_PATH_CHECK() is deprecated])
+ AC_MSG_WARN([[use PKG_CHECK_MODULES([CHECK], [check >= 0.9.4]) instead]])
   AC_ARG_WITH([check],
   [ --with-check=PATH prefix where check is installed [default=auto]])

@&t@ part was put there to prevent expanding the AM_PATH_CHECK() macro. It makes the package broken for any new check-using project (or old, after running `aclocal`).
Please remove that part ASAP, as this makes the package practically useless.