faces trouble

(insert (emacs-version)) XEmacs 21.5 (beta6) "bok choi" [Lucid] (i586-pc-linux) of Wed Jun 26 2002 on boffi95 months ago i customized buffer-tabs face to :family "trebuchet ms" and all was well until i synched my sources with the latest cvs now, both on debian woody at work, and on mdk82 at home, i experience the same problems: 1. buffer tabs are shown in default face! i can change fg&bg of the tabs, but not the family or the size of the face... 2. i tried to change the default face, just to see if this involved also the buffer tabs... so i used the menubar "Options>Font>Verdana" resulting in a change in the buffer tabs ONLY, and not in the default face... moreover, trying again to change the default face resulted eventually in a crash, don't remember if at home or at work...