gnu emacs 22.1 with xft: problems with background color of empty regions

[Joe Brenner <doom@kzsu.stanford.edu>]

I've compiled the emacs 22.1 source code on an amd64-based gnu/linux box
(kubuntu), using the --with-xft and --with-gtk options:

 ../emacs-22.1/configure --with-gtk --enable-font-backend  --with-xft --prefix /usr/local/emacs/xft_22.1

I typically use a light-on-dark color scheme, but this has
problems in this xft-enabled emacs.  Empty regions on the screen
are coming up a blinding white, ignoring my background color
settings.  Here's a screen shot:

   http://obsidianrook.com/data/emacs22.1-xft-minimal.jpg

This screenshot was taken by running like so:

  /usr/local/emacs/xft_22.1/bin/emacs -q -l /home/doom/tmp/color-setup.el &

Where the file /home/doom/tmp/color-setup.el contains the following:

   (add-to-list 'default-frame-alist '(foreground-color . "Thistle"))
   (add-to-list 'default-frame-alist '(background-color . "Black"))
   (add-to-list 'default-frame-alist '(cursor-color . "Orchid"))
   (add-to-list 'default-frame-alist '(mouse-color . "GreenYellow"))
   (add-to-list 'default-frame-alist '(border-color . "DarkOliveGreen"))
   (add-to-list 'default-frame-alist '(border-color . "Thistle"))
   
   (transient-mark-mode t)
   (set-face-foreground 'region "Black")
   (set-face-background 'region "DarkOliveGreen")
   
   (set-foreground-color "Thistle")
   (set-background-color "Black")
   (set-cursor-color "Orchid")
   (set-mouse-color "GreenYellow")
   
   (set-face-foreground 'modeline "Black")
   (set-face-background 'modeline "DarkSlateBlue")
   
   (set-face-foreground 'highlight "PaleGreen")
   (set-face-background 'highlight "BlueViolet")
   
   (show-paren-mode)
   (set-face-foreground 'show-paren-match-face "PaleGreen")
   (set-face-background 'show-paren-match-face "BlueViolet")
   (set-face-foreground 'show-paren-mismatch-face "yellow")
   (set-face-background 'show-paren-mismatch-face "firebrick")

Note: a vanilla version compiled without xft support has no
such problem:

   http://obsidianrook.com/data/emacs22.1-vanilla.jpg