[evince] How to build from source on ubuntu lucid

[BM <automessagebuffer gmail com>]

Hello,
could somebody please post a tutorial on how to build an evince copy
from source on Ubuntu (lucid)? I'm interested in building a modified
copy of evince (I'd like to add background/font colour change
selection component) but now I really got stuck (after all hard work
of understanding what libraries I need to add and finally succeeding
to compile the source I get "/usr/local/lib/evince/2/backends" when
running  ./shell/evince .
Why it is trying to open that directory, why the original evince
executable doesn't crash for the same reason?
If I should set some kind of variable, why the script didn't asked me to? )
I think a good "how-to, (I mean step-by step)" is the answer to all my
questions and also a good starting point for persons that would like
to develop open source.

Thank you very much!

Mario Balaban.