Statically building {gnome,gtk} broken?

[Jason Tackaberry <tack linux com>]

I'm trying to statically build a gtk+ (eventually gnome) app, but I'm
not able to successfully run even the simplest program.  For instance,
the hello world program at http://www.levien.com/gimp/hello.html
segfaults on me when I run it.  I compile it like so:

gcc hello.c -static `gtk-config --cflags --libs`

When I launch the resulting a.out, it segfaults with this trace:

--- snip ---

#0  0x40329949 in ?? ()
#1  0x4032334c in ?? ()
#2  0x40322ce1 in ?? ()
#3  0x402ba6e0 in ?? ()
#4  0x40236273 in ?? ()
#5  0x40002962 in ?? ()
#6  0x8058732 in gtk_rc_style_to_style (rc_style=0x8207c60) at
gtkrc.c:1190
#7  0x8058a41 in gtk_rc_style_init (rc_styles=0x81fc328) at gtkrc.c:1286
#8  0x80580b4 in gtk_rc_get_style (widget=0x81fede0) at gtkrc.c:936
#9  0x80741e6 in gtk_widget_set_rc_style (widget=0x81fede0) at
gtkwidget.c:3446
#10 0x80740bd in gtk_widget_ensure_style (widget=0x81fede0) at
gtkwidget.c:3427
#11 0x8071945 in gtk_widget_size_request (widget=0x81fede0,
requisition=0x0)
    at gtkwidget.c:2394
#12 0x8078d8c in gtk_window_show (widget=0x81fede0) at gtkwindow.c:883
#13 0x8050633 in gtk_marshal_NONE__NONE (object=0x81fede0, 
    func=0x8078cdc <gtk_window_show>, func_data=0x0, args=0xbffff5c0)
    at gtkmarshal.c:312
#14 0x805f9ce in gtk_signal_real_emit (object=0x81fede0, signal_id=2, 
    params=0xbffff5c0) at gtksignal.c:1440
#15 0x805dfc6 in gtk_signal_emit (object=0x81fede0, signal_id=2)
    at gtksignal.c:552
#16 0x806f8f4 in gtk_widget_show (widget=0x81fede0) at gtkwidget.c:1434
#17 0x80483f5 in main ()
#18 0x8112d32 in __libc_start_main (main=0x8048204 <main>, argc=1, 
    ubp_av=0xbffff924, init=0x80480b4 <_init>, fini=0x815fec0 <_fini>, 
    rtld_fini=0, stack_end=0xbffff91c) at
../sysdeps/generic/libc-start.c:129

--- snip ---

This is tested both RH 6.1 and RH7.1, but both running Ximian gnome with
gtk+-1.2.10.  I have an arcane RH 5.2 box with gtk+ 1.2.0 and it works
fine, however.  Would this be a packaging issue with Ximian, or is gtk+
itself somehow broken?

Cheers,
Jason.