gnome-base/gconf-2.24.0 brings dependency on sys-apps/dbus. If user starts gnome application without running session dbus-daemon, dbus library tries to start the daemon automatically via "dbus-launch --autolaunch". (Precise condition for automatic launching is described in dbus-launch(1)). If user has compiled dbus without X11 support (USE="-X"), autolaunching will fail with message: > Autolaunch requested, but X11 support not compiled in. and gnome application could not get its configuration (probably). I suggest the gnome-base/gconf-2.24.0 should RDEPEND on sys-apps/dbus[X] or the user should be warned in pkg_postinst he is supposed to start dbus-daemon before any gnome application (e.g. in .xsession).
From the dbus ebuild: elog "Some applications require a session bus in addition to the system" elog "bus. Please see \`man dbus-launch\` for more information." From the xinit ebuild: eerror "You MUST build sys-apps/dbus with the X USE flag enabled." die "You MUST build sys-apps/dbus with the X USE flag enabled." I'm pretty there are other places where it is mentionned that one should start a session bus before anything else if starting X manually. It is pretty much assumed that you have a session bus started if you are using *any* application using dbus.
