The problem does not seem to be the selection, I can verify that the object is selected before running the tool. Additionally, there seems to be two select modes, skewer and stretch, and I can reproduce the issue with both select modes.

Thank you, I will experiment to see if in fact the object is being deselected. That sounds plausible.

In a fresh Inskscape 0.48 as provided by Kubuntu, I am having trouble with the Trace Bitmap feature. When I press the OK button nothing happens, as if the button was not pressed. That said, _sometimes_ it "works", that is that the application performs the action when pressing the button. O...