KDE 3.5.7 web authentication weirdness

[TeeB]

I've had a Gentoo box at home since 2000 or 2001. At work, because of some specific software, I've so far been running Kubuntu on my laptop, until I finally got tired of some problems I had with it, took my chances and installed Gentoo (which I'm more familiar with anyway). Everything went fine, I had a fast and responsive setup in my hands, and was happy with it... but then...

We have an authentication system used by our intranet sites where, when I want to access an intranet page, it redirects me to a a HTTPS address with a login screen where I type in my company email address and my password. This page then authenticates me and redirects me back to the original site. It has worked in the past (read: Kubuntu), but now I'm greeted with a remark about Konqueror finding a cyclic link, or I just get returned to the login screen. The same problem appears with NTLM authentication, which uses the same password. Finally, I could also use a client certificate to authenticate. Because of my little problem I had to fetch myself a certificate using Firefox, export the certificate from it as a backup, and import the backup to Konqueror. But the certificate doesn't work in Konqueror - when I log in to sites that should accept the certificate I get a popup window asking which certificate to use, but authentication just doesn't happen. The result is the same: wah wah wah cyclic link, or returning to the login screen.

Any idea what the KDE in Kubuntu and the KDE in Gentoo have differently in this regard? Any idea where to start looking for a solution?

[Mad Merlin]

Can you log in using Firefox? If so, you can probably just do that and then use Konqueror normally.
_________________
Game! - Where the stick is mightier than the sword!

[TeeB]

Emerged firefox and tried, both authentication schemes work so there's a reason to believe that the problem lies within KDE 3.5.7. I emerged the minimal KDE setup and added the components I needed one by one instead of trying the monolithic or the full split ebuild. The underlying Gentoo install uses the /usr/portage/profiles/default-linux/x86/dev/2007.1/desktop profile. Investigation continues... meanwhile, any tips are greatly appreciated.

[TeeB]

Doesn't work with a split ebuild KDE either; that eliminates the possibility that the minimal install was lacking something... *sigh* looks like I'm going to have to keep working using a distro that doesn't have this problem.

[TeeB]

And just after writing the previous message, I found the solution to the problem

Using the existing home directory from the Kubuntu install -including the KDE configs- causes the problem. I've created a new user that doesn't have the burden of an existing KDE configuration, and everything works just fine.