the error people get when havign done a clean install is Can't call method "type" on an undefined value at /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.5/Text/WikiFormat.pm line 234
this is caused by the latest version of Text:Wikiformat if you revert back to 0.71 or so it goes away. However up and running sites arnt affected.
So when setting up a new CGI:wiki:Kwiki wiki yesterday i got the error. So i manaully enterd the url to get the edit page
http://example.com/examplewiki/?node=HomePage;action=edit
i then added stuff to the page and commited at which point the error goes away.
Therefore i propose the problem lies in the intial Homepage creation code. which possibly explains the failing tests as well.
Hopefully this will help actual programmers track down the bug.