This sounds like it might be two issues:
I checked in fixes tonight for the underlying problem behind the assert 
(from your description, it looks an awful lot like bug #48):
  http://www.abisource.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=48
I'm not sure if the fix (to abi/src/wp/fmt/fv_View.cpp) made the overnight 
anonymous CVS drop.  If not, search bonsai for the fix:
  http://www.abisource.com/bonsai/cvsqueryform.cgi
>   ...					    the application
>   dies in an assert:
>
>	Build ID:       caltrop.eng.us.uu.net-jde
>	Version:
>	Build Options:  JavaScript:Off Debug:On
>	Compile Date:   Dec  2 1998
>	Compile Time:   16:29:33
>
>	**** (1) Assert ****
>	**** (1) bSelEmpty at fv_View.cpp:804 ****
>	**** (1) Continue ? (y/n) [y] : Gdk-Message:
>	** ERROR **: sigint caught
Does it actually *die* here?  It shouldn't oughta do that.  The assert macro 
should let you say Y and keep going.  
>Liking what I see, though,
Cool.  That's what we want to hear. 
Paul