diff -up plymouth-0.8.0/src/main.c.add-debug plymouth-0.8.0/src/main.c
--- plymouth-0.8.0/src/main.c.add-debug	2010-03-24 15:02:14.092770881 -0400
+++ plymouth-0.8.0/src/main.c	2010-03-25 17:29:02.073882731 -0400
@@ -770,7 +770,13 @@ tell_gdm_to_transition (void)
 {
   int fd;
 
+  ply_trace ("Telling gdm to do transition");
   fd = creat ("/var/spool/gdm/force-display-on-active-vt", 0644);
+
+  if (fd < 0)
+    {
+      ply_trace ("could not create /var/spool/gdm/force-display-on-active-vt: %m");
+    }
   close (fd);
 }
 #endif
@@ -793,7 +799,16 @@ quit_program (state_t *state)
     {
       tell_gdm_to_transition ();
     }
+#else
+  if (state->should_retain_splash)
+    {
+      ply_trace ("plymouth built without gdm support");
+    }
 #endif
+  else
+    {
+      ply_trace ("quitting without retain splash");
+    }
 
   if (state->deactivate_trigger != NULL)
     {