Different systems have different approaches to solutions and packaging. You might find the information below interesting.
Mandrake:
libpcre: Breaks pcre into 3 different pieces, make sure pcre-devel is installed if compiling from source. Try this command:
$ rpm -ql pcre-devel
... more nags with Mandrake?
Debian:
Debian Woody (the current Stable) has an old GTK-2 version, that contains several known bugs, but they are not serious.
Debian Sarge (currently in Testing) has Bluefish 0.13, and a very recent GTK version.
Debian Sid (Unstable) will always have the latest Bluefish version.