>> > I've read about backtraces, core dumps, and using gdb.
>> I'm no
>> > programmer, so what is the best way for me to
>> troublesoot?
>> $ gdb
>> (gdb) file /usr/bin/kmail
>> (gdb) run
>> <trigger the crash>
>> (gdb) bt
>> <you obtain the backtrace>
>>
>> I don't know if this will be enough, but I'm not an expert
>> debugger :).
>
> I gave that a go. gdb reported that kmail exited normally. With some trial
> and error testing, I copied /usr/bin/kmail and /usr/lib/libkmailprivate.so
> from my Slackware 12.2 package and then the problem disappeared. At this
> point I can only guess that something in the kmail composer code does not
> compile correctly and instead causes the entire app to close rather than
> just the composer window.
>
> Darrell
>

You may need to try something like this:
gdb --arg kmail --nofork

kmail is just a kdeinit executable that will normally exit as soon as the
GUI is loaded unless forced not to.

Tim