[kde-freebsd] KDE - problems with kicker on OpenBSD

[Theodore Wynnychenko]

Hello

I know that this mailing list is for KDE and freebsd, but I was hoping to
get some suggestions.  I thaught this question(s) was more accurately asked
here (the KDE list), rather than at an openbsd list.

Anyway, I recently installed openBSD and KDE (using the openbsd package
system - it appears to be KDE v 3.5.7).  Everything seemed to be going fine,
the installation was problem free, I set up things to boot directly to KDM,
and log in, etc.  However, after a few days, I started having problems with
the "taskbar" along the bottom of the screen (the "kicker" bar).  When I log
into KDE, a "grey" bar appears at the bottom, but there are no icons on it
whatever (no clock, no k-menu icon, nothing).  Also, right-clicking the
mouse on the grey-only kicker bar does nothing.  If I right-click elsewhere
on the desktop, i do get a pop-up menu with some options (including logout),
however.

If I ssh into the box, I (as root) can kill the kicker process, and the
grey-only kicker bar will disappear from the local screen.  however,
restarting kicker manually results in the re-appearance of the grey-only
kicker bar.

addititionally, if i create a new user, i can log into KDE with the new user
and go throught the KDE configuartion questions, and the kicker bar appears
"normal."  however, the mouse buttons do not appear to be functional.  i am
unable to either left- or right-click anything on the "normal" appearing
kicker-bar.  if i ctrl-alt-backspace to stop the x-windows server, i return
to KDM, and  log in again with the new user.  on the second login, the
kicker bar is all grey (the icons(applets) have all disappeared).

It seems that the kickerrc configuation file is not corrupted.  the original
user, root, and newly created user kickerrc files are all (essentally) the
same.

I have also attempted to reinstall the openbsd kde packages (using the
package system i removed the kdebase, kdepim, kdeartwork, and kdeaddons
packages, and the reinstalled them).  However, after doing that, when i log
in, the "grey-only" kicker bar is still there.

So, I am lost.  I know that this isn't an "openbsd" list, but i was hoping
that someone would have some idea of what I could try.  It seems to me that
this is more likely a KDE-configuration issue rather that an openbsd
configuration issue.

Thanks for any help

bye - ted