Trace Bitmap is actually a wrapper around another tool called potrace, which can be used from the commandline. While Inkscape adds some useful capabilities in its wrapper, you might be able to achieve what you need directly. More info on potrace:
http://potrace.sourceforge.net/Bryce
Thanks, that actually helps quite a bit.
Q: Say I have a complex path that needs to be broken up into pieces. I generally copy-paste-in-place and then delete unnecessary nodes that leave me only with the piece that is most curious to my cause. I am familiar with "Break Apart" function, yet it only works for objects which contain multiple disjoint paths. Would be rather nice if I could select necessary points of the path and "extract" them into a new object without using "Cut Path," since it requires another shape to place correctly...
-ilya.