systray icon missing when running from sources

["Adi J. Sieker" <adi sieker info>]

Hello,

I'm running Ubuntu Lucid and I installed kupfer via synaptics.
Since I want to extend the Gmail plugin I also checked out from git.
If I launch kupfer from the git checkout using kupfer.py it works fine 
but I don't get a systray icon.
Any thoughts on why the systray icon is missing. The systray flickers 
quickly so I guess it creates the widget but doesn't find the icon. 
There are no errors on the console if I run from console.

Regards
   Adi