Hello, i use the sidebar patch in gentoo without a problem (1.5.16, Useflags: berkdb crypt -debug gdbm gnutls -gpgme -idn -imap -mbox nls -nntp -pop -qdbm -sasl sidebar smime -smtp ssl -vanilla).
I changed the bindings for better use to this: bind index \ca sidebar-prev bind index \cy sidebar-next bind index \cx sidebar-open bind pager \ca sidebar-prev bind pager \cy sidebar-next bind pager \cx sidebar-open Only real difference is that you use \C and i \c, but i don't know if that's of any importance. I would try the gentoo forum, it's excellent.