Hi all,
If try debugging inkscape using gdb on Linux, then you will have noticed that in some cases xserver will become unresponsive. This happens for example if you hit a breakpoint or assert while you were dragging an object. Years ago, one of our developers blogged about a trick to run gdb on a virtual terminal and have inkscape still run within the xserver. I cannot recall however who it was and were it was posted, but it was a cumbersome workaround anyway because you had to operate gdb from a terminal (something I've never been able to master). I've now learned a better way to do this, using gdb from within Elipse which allows you to inspect any variable by using your mouse only. That's a level I can handle ;-)
See http://developer.gnome.org/gtk-faq/stable/x461.html for an explanation. I couldn't manage to get the first option working (btw --sync has been deprecated as of recently, see http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/test/2011-February/097248.html). The Xnest option however works flawlessly on my Fedora 15 system.
I only wished that I had known about this years ago...
PS: xorg-x11-twm and xorg-x11-server-Xnest must be installed
Diederik