I've noticed this for a little while with the vim7 snapshots. If X is unreachable (either because $DISPLAY is unset or is set to something that can't be reached), "vim --help" will display the help except for the Gnome-specific section, the E233 error message and then start Vim. If X is reachable, then all of the help will be displayed and Vim will not start, as expected.
James -- GPG Key: 1024D/61326D40 2003-09-02 James Vega <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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