getpwuid_r() + x io error : What the ... ?

[Matt Gushee <mgushee havenrock com>]

Hi, Folks--

Okay, please don't flame me for not using the latest version of GTK. I 
am trying to have a life ;-) I will upgrade if there is good reason to 
believe it will solve my problem. Fair enough?

Anyway, can anybody hazard a guess as to what's going on here?

    $ ./c3.py

    GLib-WARNING **: getpwuid_r(): failed due to: No such user 500.

    Gdk-ERROR **: an x io error occurred
    aborting...
    Aborted (core dumped)

+ c3.py is a wxPython application

+ wxPython is a Python wrapper for wxWindows ...

+ wxWindows is a cross-platform C++ class framework which (in this case) 
  uses GTK.

The above error occurs when I try to run any wxPython program, but
doesn't occur for non-wxPython, wxWindows programs. So it would appear 
to be a wxPython problem. But I've asked about this on
comp.lang.python and the wxPython ML, but nobody there seems to have
an answer.

If I try to run the program as root, the getpwuid_r() error goes away, 
which sort of makes sense, but the x io error remains.

Here's some specs for y'all:

RedHat Linux 5.2 w/ out-of-box 2.0.36 kernel & glibc 2.0.7
XFree86 3.3.3.1, Japanese RPM distribution w/ TrueType font patch
GTK/Glib 1.2.3, built on this box from SRPMs*
wxWindows 2.1.11, built from SRPM & installed under /usr*
wxPython 2.1.11, built from tarball & installed under /usr/local*
Python 1.5.2, built from SRPM*
* these packages compiled w/ egcs 2.90.29

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Matt Gushee
Portland, Maine, USA