I've finally found out why this happens. The two processes use the Tk send function to communicate with each other which only worls, when the xhost list is empty. For some reason, my xhost list wasn't empty but contained these entries:
b...@sakura:~$ xhost access control enabled, only authorized clients can connect SI:localuser:bodo SI:localuser:gdm SI:localuser:root These entries are added by /etc/X11/Xsession.d/60x11-common_localhost contained in x11-common. b...@sakura:~$ apt-cache policy x11-common x11-common: Installed: 1:7.4+3ubuntu10 Candidate: 1:7.4+3ubuntu10 Version table: *** 1:7.4+3ubuntu10 0 500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/main Packages 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status 1:7.4+3ubuntu7 0 500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main Packages -- exmh-bg dying, becoming a zombie https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/430697 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs