Ok, so I've compiled the svn (r1955 if that's important) under gentoo (x86_64), but creating a safe environment to testing things in is a bit difficult. I used the +set fs_basepath and +set fs_homepath to isolate the svn stuff from my 1.1 and gpp stuff and created a directory structure that the game can find its way around in. To my dismay, however, the stuff in trunk/assets/ (zipped to a .pk3), vms (also zipped to a .pk3), and the tremulous and tremded executable aren't nearly enough to run the game properly. I managed to get things usable in a pinch by copying the 1.1 assets to a directory, copying the svn assets into that directory (overwriting old stuff if possible), and zipping that into a .pk3. But there are some file and parsing related errors (probably because of using 1.1 stuff), and the marked decon icon doesn't show up. Instead its just a grey square reminiscent of what happens to the title screen if you just use the assets in trunk/assets.
What assets am I supposed to be using?