Bug#681195: Possible corrupted dconf/user file?

[Steve Clark]

I suddenly got this meesage 2 days ago and it happens whether I use
Gnome-Shell or Fallback. The message can be closed by pressing Alt-F4
and you will see a normal Gnome-Shell/Fallback desktop but
Gnome-Settings-Daemon will not be running as it crashed with a Seg
Fault leading to this error message.
A possible work-around is to switch to a TTY BEFORE logging in and
removing the ~/.config/dconf/user file allowing a normal login. However,
this means all changed settings have been returned to defaults.
There does not appear to be any particular program that is responsible,
but rather the dconf/user file becomes corrupted when a setting is
changed. Changing a setting will work but you cannot login again
without this error message unless you remove the dconf/user file.
After logging in, as suggested above, you can change any setting you
like in dconf, by any means you like, and the next login will be a
crashed G-S-D, e.g. Touchpad 'tap-to-click' or changing the desktop
wallpaper.
My workaround includes a bash script that includes all settings I would
normally have (using gsettings or dconf to set) and running that during
startup.
As an extra note, if you remove the dconf/user file and leave
everything at default settings, Gnome-Settings-Daemon does not crash on
subsequent logins.