Maybe it is because it is 5am by now, but I can't figure out how to edit my question, so I will just add this as a comment:
Part of my problem is that I need to unlock() before exiting the sub. the sub being executed is a Gimp callback. The non-callback interface seems broken with the newest version; other things were broken in the earlier version, so I had to update.
Am I going to have to run this part as a seperate daemon? Would that help, or would it just transfer the problem to a differnt pid?

Paris Sinclair    |    4a75737420416e6f74686572
pariss@efn.org    |    205065726c204861636b6572
I wear my Geek Code on my finger.