Bug#305952: gnome-panel: applets not working; gtk reports errors

[Jim Cline]

Package: gnome-panel
Version: 2.8.3-1
Severity: important


I have been happily using gnome-panel on top of fvwm, until a recent
apt-get upgrade.  Since then the panel (as well as some other
applications)  has become nearly unusable.
On startup of panel, I get the error messages:

Gdk-WARNING **: locale not supported by C library
Gtk-WARNING **: invalid cast from (NULL) pointer to `GtkObject'
Gtk-CRITICAL **: file gtksignal.c: line 724 (gtk_signal_connect): assertion `object != NULL' failed.

(If panel is started by root, these messages appear repeatedly and the
system goes crazy with repeated attempts to start it.)

Launchers still work, but most applets are gone (with exception of
date/time and fish), and the panel pull-down menu does not respond to
attempts to add any applets.

I tried removing and reinstalling gdk and gtk libraries, to no effect.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 3.1
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.9
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C (charmap=ANSI_X3.4-1968)

Versions of packages gnome-panel depends on:
ii  gnome-control-center 1:2.8.2-3           The GNOME Control Center for GNOME
ii  gnome-desktop-data   2.8.3-2             Common files for GNOME 2 desktop a
ii  gnome-panel-data     2.8.3-1             common files for GNOME 2 panel
ii  gnome-session        2.8.1-6             The GNOME 2 Session Manager
ii  libart-2.0-2         2.3.17-1            Library of functions for 2D graphi
ii  libatk1.0-0          1.8.0-4             The ATK accessibility toolkit
ii  libbonobo2-0         2.8.1-2             Bonobo CORBA interfaces library
ii  libbonoboui2-0       2.8.1-2             The Bonobo UI library
ii  libc6                2.3.2.ds1-20        GNU C Library: Shared libraries an
ii  libecal6             1.0.4-1             Client library for evolution calen
ii  libedataserver3      1.0.4-1             Utily library for evolution data s
ii  libgconf2-4          2.8.1-5             GNOME configuration database syste
ii  libglade2-0          1:2.4.2-2           library to load .glade files at ru
ii  libglib2.0-0         2.6.4-1             The GLib library of C routines
ii  libgnome-desktop-2   2.8.3-2             Utility library for loading .deskt
ii  libgnome2-0          2.8.1-2             The GNOME 2 library - runtime file
ii  libgnomecanvas2-0    2.8.0-1             A powerful object-oriented display
ii  libgnomeui-0         2.8.1-3             The GNOME 2 libraries (User Interf
ii  libgnomevfs2-0       2.8.4-2             The GNOME virtual file-system libr
ii  libgtk2.0-0          2.6.4-1             The GTK+ graphical user interface 
ii  libice6              4.3.0.dfsg.1-12.0.1 Inter-Client Exchange library
ii  liborbit2            1:2.12.1-1          libraries for ORBit2 - a CORBA ORB
ii  libpanel-applet2-0   2.8.3-1             library for GNOME 2 panel applets
ii  libpango1.0-0        1.8.1-1             Layout and rendering of internatio
ii  libpng12-0           1.2.8rel-1          PNG library - runtime
ii  libpopt0             1.7-5               lib for parsing cmdline parameters
ii  libsm6               4.3.0.dfsg.1-12.0.1 X Window System Session Management
ii  libstartup-notificat 0.8-1               library for program launch feedbac
ii  libwnck4             2.8.1-3             Window Navigator Construction Kit 
ii  libx11-6             4.3.0.dfsg.1-12.0.1 X Window System protocol client li
ii  libxext6             4.3.0.dfsg.1-12.0.1 X Window System miscellaneous exte
ii  libxml2              2.6.16-7            GNOME XML library
ii  xlibs                4.3.0.dfsg.1-12     X Keyboard Extension (XKB) configu
ii  zlib1g               1:1.2.2-3           compression library - runtime

-- no debconf information