I compiled the intrepid version for hardy and the problem still happens.

It is still spinning on the unavailable unix socket. According to gdb this happens in libxcb because it gets a xcb_connection_t with the fd of the socket. Probably the output below helps. Please tell me if you need any further information since liferea became totally unusable for me.

[b7fe3410] poll([{fd=6, events=POLLIN}, {fd=8, events=POLLIN}, {fd=10, events=POLLIN}, {fd=14, events=POLLIN|POLLPRI}, {fd=16, events=POLLIN|POLLPRI}, {fd=17, events=POLLIN|POLLPRI}, {fd=18, events=POLLIN|POLLPRI}, {fd=41, events=POLLIN}, {fd=36, events=POLLIN}, {fd=21, events=POLLIN}], 10, 0) = 0
[b7fe3410] gettimeofday({1214119763, 570023}, NULL) = 0
[b7fe3410] gettimeofday({1214119763, 570056}, NULL) = 0
[b7fe3410] gettimeofday({1214119763, 570083}, NULL) = 0
[b7fe3410] read(8, 0x80ca0a4, 4096)     = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)

(gdb) bt
#0  _xcb_in_read (c=0x80ca010) at xcb_in.c:499
#1  0xb716583b in xcb_poll_for_event (c=0x80ca010) at xcb_in.c:407
#2  0xb77fccc9 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libX11.so.6
#3  0xb77fcfcf in ?? () from /usr/lib/libX11.so.6
#4  0xb77fd71f in _XEventsQueued () from /usr/lib/libX11.so.6
#5  0xb77e69d2 in XPending () from /usr/lib/libX11.so.6
#6  0xb7a0e04d in ?? () from /usr/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0
#7  0xb7a0e141 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0
#8  0xb76b33e0 in IA__g_main_context_prepare (context=0x80c3fb8, 
    priority=0xbfe49f28) at /build/buildd/glib2.0-2.16.3/glib/gmain.c:2329
#9  0xb76b3b09 in g_main_context_iterate (context=0x80c3fb8, block=1, 

(gdb) print *c
$2 = {has_error = 0, setup = 0x80cc180, fd = 8, iolock = {__data = {
      __lock = 1, __count = 0, __owner = 27035, __kind = 0, __nusers = 1, {
        __spins = 0, __list = {__next = 0x0}}}, 
    __size = "\001\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\233i\000\000\000\000\000\000\001\000\000\000\000\000\000", __align = 1}, xlib = {lock = 1, sloppy_lock = 1, 
    thread = 3071129376, cond = {__data = {__lock = 0, __futex = 0, 
        __total_seq = 0, __wakeup_seq = 0, __woken_seq = 0, __mutex = 0x0, 
        __nwaiters = 0, __broadcast_seq = 0}, 
      __size = '\0' <repeats 47 times>, __align = 0}}, in = {event_cond = {
      __data = {__lock = 0, __futex = 0, __total_seq = 0, __wakeup_seq = 0, 
        __woken_seq = 0, __mutex = 0x0, __nwaiters = 0, __broadcast_seq = 0}, 
      __size = '\0' <repeats 47 times>, __align = 0}, reading = 0, 
    queue = "q\000WB\001\000�\003~\003 \003\001\000\000\000}9J\004}9J\004\210��\b�\226��q\000WB\001\000�\003~\003 \003\001\000\000\000}9J\004}9J\004\210��\b�\226��q\000WB\001\000�\003~\003 \003\001\000\000\000}9J\004}9J\004\210��\b�\226��q\000WB\001\000�\003~\003 \003\001\000\000\000}9J\004}9J\004\210��\b�\226��q\000WB\001\000�\003~\003 \003\001\000\000\000}9J\004}9J\004\210��\b�\226��q\000WB\001\000�\003~\003 \003\001\000\000\000}9J\004}9J\004\210��\b�\226��q\000WB\001\000�\003"..., queue_len = 0, request_expected = 213591, request_read = 213591, 
    request_completed = 213590, current_reply = 0x0, 
    current_reply_tail = 0x80cb0b4, replies = 0x80c3ed0, events = 0x0, 
    events_tail = 0x80cb0c0, readers = 0x0, pending_replies = 0x0, 
    pending_replies_tail = 0x80cb0cc}, out = {cond = {__data = {__lock = 0, 
---Type <return> to continue, or q <return> to quit---
        __futex = 0, __total_seq = 0, __wakeup_seq = 0, __woken_seq = 0, 
        __mutex = 0x0, __nwaiters = 0, __broadcast_seq = 0}, 
      __size = '\0' <repeats 47 times>, __align = 0}, writing = 0, 
    queue = "5\030\004\000�u�\003Gt�\003\020\000\020\000\233\004\005\000�u�\003�u�\0038\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\233\006\005\000�u�\003\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\020\000\020\000\233\032\a\000\003u�\003�u�\003��������\000\000\000\000\020\000\020\000\233\004\006\000�u�\003�u�\0038\000\000\000\200\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\233\005\004\000�u�\003@\000\000\000\000\000\000\0005 \004\000�u�\003e\000\000\000\020\000\020\000\233\004\005\000�u�\003�u�\003H\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\233\004\005\000�u�\003�u�\0036\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\222\003\n\000�u�\0030\000�\003\000\006@\000�\004 \000"..., queue_len = 0, 
    request = 213591, request_written = 213591, reqlenlock = {__data = {
        __lock = 0, __count = 0, __owner = 0, __kind = 0, __nusers = 0, {
          __spins = 0, __list = {__next = 0x0}}}, 
      __size = '\0' <repeats 23 times>, __align = 0}, 
    maximum_request_length_tag = LAZY_FORCED, maximum_request_length = {
      cookie = {sequence = 4194303}, value = 4194303}}, ext = {lock = {
      __data = {__lock = 0, __count = 0, __owner = 0, __kind = 0, 
        __nusers = 0, {__spins = 0, __list = {__next = 0x0}}}, 
      __size = '\0' <repeats 23 times>, __align = 0}, extensions = 0x80c74f0, 
    extensions_size = 2}, xid = {lock = {__data = {__lock = 0, __count = 0, 
        __owner = 0, __kind = 0, __nusers = 0, {__spins = 0, __list = {
            __next = 0x0}}}, __size = '\0' <repeats 23 times>, __align = 0}, 
---Type <return> to continue, or q <return> to quit---
    last = 30174, base = 62914560, max = 2097151, inc = 1}}