gnome-terminal acts funny in recent 2.5 series

[Alessandro Suardi <alessandro.suardi@oracle.com>]

Running Ximian-latest for rh72/i386, latest 2.5 kernels (including
  2.5.4-pre2, 2.5.4, 2.5.5-pre1).

Symptom:
   - clicking on the panel icon for gnome-terminal shows a flicker
      of the terminal window coming up then the window disappears.
     No leftover processes.

What works 100%:
   - regular xterm in 2.5.x
   - gnome-terminal in 2.4.x (x in .17, .18-pre9, .18-rc2)

More info:
   - doesn't happen 100% of the time, but close
   - trying to start gnome-terminal either vanilla or with the
      parameters in the icon from an xterm causes
       * gnome-terminal window comes up, but no shell prompt; the
          window *does not* disappear and program is in a CPU loop
       * program detaches from calling xterm even when '&' is
          not used
       * calling xterm's tty is left in a funny state (sometimes
          stty sane^J is required, sometimes tput reset)

Any ideas would be quite welcome - I can go back and try and narrow
  down what kernel breaks gnome-terminal if nothing comes up.


Thanks,

--alessandro

  "If your heart is a flame burning brightly
    you'll have light and you'll never be cold
   And soon you will know that you just grow / You're not growing old"
                               (Husker Du, "Flexible Flyer")