problem with deskbar applet

[Bill Smith]

This is on a machine running Current as of 1st June, I had already 
successfully done the xorg upgrade a week or so before.
Supped and rebuilt again on 29th May late pm, portupgrade -a goes fine 
until it reaches deskbar-applet, configure grinds to a halt on
checking for gnomeapplet module, the process just stops, quietly, no 
errors shown, the machine is not locked up, but a ^c will not kill the 
portupgrade process.
I have since tried a make deinstall && make reinstall for it but the 
same thing happens.
Top shows 3 instances of make in wait state and one of python in ucond 
state, no idea what that is.
Any ideas, or should I just deinstall gnome and start again?
Cheers
-- 
Bill