I'm getting the same behavior. I'm using
KDE 4.* in Debian testing/unstable compiled from svn trunk, 
revision 768480 (directory revision of systemsettings is 767162).

Steps to reproduce:
1) Open systemsettings, go Appearance->Fonts and choose 
a non-default one (e.g. freesans)
2) Go back, close systemsettings, logout.
3)login again. The fonts are reset.
The file ~/.kde4/share/config/kdeglobals 
has all the fields ([General],[KFileDialog Settings], [WM])
except [$Version], deleted.


After some testing, I found that the action that triggers 
this to happen, is kwin's exit (composite or not).

So this can be reproduced, on my setup, by simply calling
~$ killall kwin. 


One more use case where this happens, is this:
1) Open system settings
2) go to Advanced->Input Actions
3) Perform any action that causes the apply button to be activated
(doesn't matter if something changes,clicking twice on a checkbox  
is enough).
4) Click apply.The file ~/.kde4/share/config/kdeglobals
is reset in the same manner described above
(everything except [$Version] deleted)


I'd be happy to provide any further feedback that is
necessary. 


Thanks.

I have very similar issue with font settings. I'm using Gentoo Linux and KDE trunk is compiled from kde overlay. A yesterday's revision of kdelibs and kdebase I believe. 

And it is not an old bug, I certainly remember that this settings worked properly for me in older trunk revisions.

I agree that this problem is somehow related to kwin. I've tried running KDE4 with OpenBox as a window manager. In this case font settings are saved as usual.

I should add that I've also noticed this problem after yesterday's
updates and it didn't exist before (I'm updating almost daily).

I just thought it might be related to the original report
(perhaps a regression?) so I posted here.

Sorry for failing to mention this at first.

Confirmed on KDE built from trunk just now (using the KDE overlay).

*** This bug has been confirmed by popular vote. ***

colours settings are not honoured here too, possibly others

I'm currently using KDE4.1 trunk with OpenBox as window manager. The bug still appears sometimes. I'm not sure about conditions, but it seems that kwin is not the only reason. However without kwin it is a rare bug. Can anybody confirm this fact?

Something similar happens with me too, but not only with fonts. Colors, widgets style and other settings (like double-click option on mouse options) don't seem to be held. It happens with kwin AND compiz. I submitted a bug for that 

http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=156994

I don't know if it is duplicated, but these problems seem to have things in common.

IMHO there are some changes in the bug behavior. Font settings (and some other settings) are now usually stored fine, even when using kwin as WM. But sometimes they still get lost.

>> there are some changes in the bug behavior

Same here. On recent SVN, the bug is gone
on all the cases that it affected me before 
(killing kwin, configuring Input actions).
And I haven't lost my settings for any reason
the last few days, so I consider this fixed .

Thanks!

*** Bug 162345 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

I have this with several settings:
- Appearance -> Style -> Enable tooltips
- Desktop -> Launch Feedback -> "Busy Cursor" drop down box and "Enable taskbar notification"
- Window Behaviour -> Window Behaviour -> Focus -> "Policy" drop down box and "Click raise active window"
...

Have anyone experienced this bug again with a recent KDE version? (4.1.3 / 4.2beta2 / 4.2svn) ?  Thanks :)

All which have experienced this issue, should:
1) tell us on which version have had the bug
2) try a newer version like Dario said on comment #13

Many Thanks.

Those that I experienced (comment #12), work now. :)

... in current SVN, that is.
And the fonts are stored here as well over a re-login.

Well, it happened to me a long long time ago (February 2008). It doesn't happen to me since the 4.1 ages. Now it is working just perfectly (svn 12/30/08).

I cannot reproduce it too. I'm closing this.

I'm experiencing this bug exactly, except I see no relation to kwin.  I'm running Jaunty with KDE 4.3.1 and kdeglobals gets overwritten any time I log out.  Fonts changed in systemsettings are reset to their default values.

@Kevin: since when does this happen ? Can you create a new user account and check that settings on it ? Thanks

I'm not sure why that helped, but I created a new user and the problem seems to be gone....on all users.  I feel like I must be going crazy.  I tested this problem for 2 hours 2 days ago.  Any explanation to offer?