I haven't investigated this bug any more, although another bug was filed
on the subject at <https://bugs.gnu.org/33882>, with some more info.

I built a package of Blender 2.80 beta, and the patch is attached. The
program runs and looks okay, but I didn't actually try to do any work
with it yet, and the package may or may not need some tweaking. Help
wanted :)

To quote the Blender project's statement about 2.80 beta [0], "Blender 2.80
is under development. We do not recommend using Beta versions in
production, there are still many bugs and data loss is not likely but
still possible. Always backup your files."

[0] https://www.blender.org/2-8/#try-it-yourself