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I am looking into this one, which fortunately I am still able to replicate on the older machine I mentioned earlier. Something is messed up with the XDG desktop paths; on my system "kde-config --userpath desktop" returns "/".
Confirmed here.
On my virtual machine running Trinity I get "/" for both root and normal user.
On my 3.5.10 machine I get the correct location for the Desktop directory for both root and normal user.
That probably confirms why the original desktop icons are missing.
That bug probably exlains why a new .directory files is being created in the root level of the files system when I run as root, and why I receive the error message trying to create that same file when running as normal user.
OK, try kdelibs and kdebase with SVN revision 1176194 or later. Most of the issues you posted earlier should be resolved, with the exception of the Qt connection error messages. I have also incorporated the majority of your startkde script changes as they should not interfere with Debian and add significant functionality.
Thanks!
Tim