I am also having a "vlc not running" problem. After several rounds of possibly making it worse, I gave up at the point detailed below
Linux LittleSister 2.6.27-11-generic #1 SMP Thu Jan 22 17:22:40 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux
Not listed: I am running Kubuntu 8.10 with KDE 4.2 installed.
VLC media player 0.9.4 Grishenko
[00000001] main libvlc debug: VLC media player - version 0.9.4 Grishenko - (c) 1996-2008 the VideoLAN team
[00000001] main libvlc debug: libvlc was configured with ./configure '--build=i486-linux-gnu' '--enable-maintaner-mode' '--enable-release' '--prefix=/usr' '--enable-libtool' '--enable-fast-install' '--with-binary-version=1ubuntu3' '--disable-update-check' '--disable-gnome' '--disable-gtk' '--disable-familiar' '--disable-fb' '--enable-ggi' '--enable-sdl' '--enable-esd' '--enable-mad' '--enable-arts' '--enable-jack' '--enable-pulse' '--enable-lirc' '--enable-a52' '--enable-aa' '--enable-dvbpsi' '--enable-mozilla' '--with-mozilla-pkg=libxul-plugin' '--disable-kde' '--enable-mp4' '--enable-dvb' '--disable-satellite' '--enable-ogg' '--enable-vorbis' '--enable-shout' '--enable-qt4' '--disable-slp' '--enable-flac' '--disable-skins' '--disable-basic-skins' '--enable-skins2' '--enable-freetype' '--enable-mkv' '--enable-speex' '--enable-caca' '--enable-live555' '--enable-libmpeg2' '--enable-fribidi' '--enable-cdio' '--enable-mod' '--enable-theora' '--enable-modplug' '--enable-dvdnav' '--enable-gnutls' '--enable-ffmpeg' '--enable-ncurses' '--enable-smb' '--disable-gnomevfs' '--enable-bonjour' '--enable-mpc' '--enable-vcd' '--enable-vcdx' '--enable-notify' '--enable-twolame' '--enable-x264' '--enable-faad' '--disable-zvbi' '--enable-telx' '--enable-mediacontrol-bindings' '--disable-atmo' '--enable-taglib' '--enable-libass' '--enable-libdca' '--enable-alsa' '--enable-dv' '--enable-v4l' '--enable-v4l2' '--enable-pvr' '--enable-svgalib' '--enable-dvd' '--without-dvdcss' 'build_alias=i486-linux-gnu' 'CFLAGS=-g -O2' 'LDFLAGS=-Wl,--as-needed' 'CPPFLAGS=' 'CXXFLAGS=-g -O2'
[00000001] main libvlc debug: translation test: code is "C"
[00000001] main libvlc debug: checking builtin modules
[00000001] main libvlc debug: checking plugin modules
[00000001] main libvlc debug: loading plugins cache file /home/eve/.cache/vlc/plugins-04041e.dat
[00000001] main libvlc warning: could not open plugins cache file /home/eve/.cache/vlc/plugins-04041e.dat for reading
[00000001] main libvlc debug: recursively browsing `/usr/lib/vlc'
[00000001] main libvlc debug: module bank initialized, found 16 modules
[00000001] main libvlc debug: opening config file (/home/eve/.config/vlc/vlcrc)
[00000001] main libvlc debug: CPU has capabilities 486 586 MMX MMXEXT SSE SSE2 FPU
[00000001] main libvlc debug: looking for memcpy module: 0 candidates
[00000001] main libvlc error: no memcpy module matched "any"
[00000023] main interaction debug: thread started
[00000023] main interaction debug: thread 3047918480 (Interaction control) created at priority 0 (interface/interaction.c:382)
[00000025] main preparser debug: thread started
[00000025] main preparser debug: waiting for thread initialization
[00000025] main preparser debug: thread 3039525776 (preparser) created at priority 0 (playlist/thread.c:79)
[00000026] main fetcher debug: thread started
[00000026] main fetcher debug: waiting for thread initialization
[00000026] main fetcher debug: thread 3031133072 (fetcher) created at priority 0 (playlist/thread.c:108)
[00000024] main playlist debug: thread started
[00000024] main playlist debug: waiting for thread initialization
[00000024] main playlist debug: rebuilding array of current - root Playlist
[00000024] main playlist debug: rebuild done - 0 items, index -1
[00000024] main playlist debug: thread 3022740368 (playlist) created at priority 0 (playlist/thread.c:117)
[00000027] main interface debug: looking for interface module: 0 candidates
[00000027] main interface error: no interface module matched "hotkeys,none"
[00000027] main interface debug: TIMER module_Need() : 0.253 ms - Total 0.253 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.253 ms)
[00000027] main interface error: no suitable interface module
[00000001] main libvlc error: interface "hotkeys,none" initialization failed
[00000028] main interface debug: looking for interface module: 0 candidates
[00000028] main interface error: no interface module matched "inhibit,none"
[00000028] main interface debug: TIMER module_Need() : 0.236 ms - Total 0.236 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.236 ms)
[00000028] main interface error: no suitable interface module
[00000001] main libvlc error: interface "inhibit,none" initialization failed
[00000029] main interface debug: looking for interface module: 1 candidate
[00000029] main interface debug: using interface module "screensaver"
[00000029] main interface debug: TIMER module_Need() : 0.037 ms - Total 0.037 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.037 ms)
[00000029] main interface debug: thread started
[00000029] main interface debug: thread 3014347664 (interface) created at priority 0 (interface/interface.c:168)
[00000030] main interface debug: looking for interface module: 4 candidates
[00000030] main interface debug: using interface module "qt4"
[00000030] main interface debug: TIMER module_Need() : 57.384 ms - Total 57.384 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 57.384 ms)
[00000030] main interface debug: thread started
[00000030] main interface debug: thread 3005954960 (interface) created at priority 0 (interface/interface.c:168)
[00000001] main libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.
[00000031] main interface debug: looking for interface module: 2 candidates
[00000031] main interface debug: using interface module "qt4"
[00000031] main interface debug: TIMER module_Need() : 29.705 ms - Total 29.705 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 29.705 ms)
[00000031] main interface debug: thread started
WARNING: QApplication was not created in the main() thread.
Segmentation fault
