Gnus displays/doesn't display X-face, why?

["JJ" <ding_gnus.org@sumou.com>]

I know this is more of an Emacs compilation question, but thought maybe
it'd be more appropriate here, since it relates only to Gnus.

I can't compile Emacs to display the X-face in Gnus anymore.

I'm using latest checkout No Gnus, am compiling GNU Emacs latest bzr
checkout.

The latest version I've compiled that displays the X-face was 100410,
after that all the versions I'm compiling, I get just a box for - empty
frame instead of the X-face displayed in the message header in Gnus.
Sometimes the lines around the not-displayed X-face flicker a bit
noticeably, and I have to exit Gnus after displaying such a message since
it's stuck somehow.

When I start the old compiled Emacs, it displays the X-face properly in
the message, this is with the same .emacs, so it's not a config issue.

I have compface and netpbm so it shouldn't be a problem with them.

It's not a question of Emacs version, as just now I went back and
recompiled the 100410 and sure enough it doesn't display the X-face, so it
must've been something I had set up at compilation time then that's
changed, but don't know which.

Thought it was maybe ImageMagick associated but I didn't have ImageMagick
available when compiling it then, and even now if I have it or don't have
it installed during compilation, doesn't make a difference... and
gnus-article-x-face-command is set to `gnus-display-x-face-in-from' - the
default, not changed via config, so it's not calling imagemagick.

I'm out of ideas, what the hell could it be? The reason it's important is
I need to compile Emacs now for a different PC and can't compile it so
that Gnus then shows the X-face, so it's not a PC architecture thing, I'm
overlooking some requirements during configure but not sure what.

Anyone have an idea?

Thanks a lot for any help.
--
JJ