Although the patch isn't accepted upstream yet (I haven't received any kind of answer), I've built updated packages on my PPA. I can't guarantee that they actually work properly in all cases, they definitely need more testing, but I was able to use these packages successfully to connect to my Cisco VPN. These patches however affect more than just the VPNC plugin, they also modify the network-manager-gnome (network-manager-applet) package. The exact patches applied are also up on my bazaar branch.
I've worked on addressing the concerns that were brought up by the NM maintainer upstream:
http:// mail.gnome. org/archives/ networkmanager- list/2008- October/ msg00240. html
Although the patch isn't accepted upstream yet (I haven't received any kind of answer), I've built updated packages on my PPA. I can't guarantee that they actually work properly in all cases, they definitely need more testing, but I was able to use these packages successfully to connect to my Cisco VPN. These patches however affect more than just the VPNC plugin, they also modify the network- manager- gnome (network- manager- applet) package. The exact patches applied are also up on my bazaar branch.