The frame option, when checked or unchecked, doesn't do anything.
Yes and I think it's a problem in the theme engine, because it works in some themes (and the gtk property is properly set).
Ohh, maybe it has to do with x/ypadding. I'm using the gtk+ dust theme which comes with zillion of gtkRc tricks.
The frame from the systray appears however, so must be something else, digging right now.
ok, let's face it, it's... just... weird
Ok figured it out, there is a hack in the clearlooks engine that prevents frames from being drawn. Reported upstream: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=616124
Fixed upstream: http://git.gnome.org/browse/gtk-engines/commit/?id=ee5d780dc2e424bce8a75b21eb6f1b74ea177247.