Gtk-CRITICAL **: IA__gtk_assistant_set_page_header_image: assertion `child != NULL' failed at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/FrontEnd/Gnome.pm line 27.

[Nicolas DERIVE]

Binary package hint: debconf

Debconf outputs this error when installing or upgrading packages on latest Natty.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: debconf 1.5.36ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-4.31-generic-pae 2.6.38-rc5
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-4-generic-pae i686
Architecture: i386
CheckboxSubmission: c4273c0f4f2b8d26cd6bf31cadfd2912
CheckboxSystem: a871981cb5bdf4d6ebd55be46becf77e
Date: Sat Feb 19 12:58:42 2011
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LC_MESSAGES=fr_FR.UTF-8
 LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8
 LANGUAGE=fr_FR:fr_FR.UTF-8:fr:en_GB:en
SourcePackage: debconf

[John Paul Funk (funktronix)]

I'm also having this error show up on AMD64 Natty. I've been noticing it in the logs for some time when upgrading and installing packages.

[Belisarivs (v-pelcak)]

Yeah. Me too.

Gtk-CRITICAL **: IA__gtk_assistant_set_page_header_image: assertion `child != NULL' failed at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/FrontEnd/Gnome.pm line 27.

From time to time GTK Debconf window appears and then crashes. It is rather serious if you can't preconfigure some package this way.

[Matt McDonald (mail-matt-mcdonald)]

I'm running a update-manager -d to upgrade to natty right now and am seeing this.

I'm concerned that I might miss some important configuration steps.

[Vlad Lungeanu (drvladl)]

It seems to be an incompatibility between debconf and libgtk2-perl.
Workarounds:
- downgrading the package "debconf" to 1.5.32ubuntu3 (maverick) - this version seems to call libgnome2-perl instead of calling directly libgtk2-perl;
- uninstalling libgtk2-perl - debconf fails to initiate the Gnome frontend and falls back automatically to the Dialog frontend.

In the changelog for package "debconf", the following is mentioned:

debconf (1.5.36ubuntu3) natty; urgency=low

  [ Martin Pitt ]
  * Debconf/FrontEnd/Gnome.pm: Port from Gnome2::Druid to Gtk2::Assistant.
    Original patch by Jani Monoses, thanks! (LP: #415038)
  * Debconf/Element/Gnome/Select.pm: Drop unused Gnome2 import.
  * debian/control: Change libgnome2-perl suggestion to libgtk2-perl
    accordingly.

Could this be the problem?

[andrewz (wizandrew)]

i also get this:

Gtk-CRITICAL **: IA__gtk_assistant_set_page_header_image: assertion `child != NULL' failed at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/FrontEnd/Gnome.pm line 27, <> line 1.
dpkg: error: parsing file '/var/lib/dpkg/available' near line 0:
 field name `/usr/share/gnome/help-langpack/gnome-help/sv/shell-workspaces.page' must be followed by colon
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)
A package failed to install. Trying to recover:

apolodor how can i downgrade the debconf version so i can update/install ?

[andrewz (wizandrew)]

seems there were lots of wierd chars in '/var/lib/dpkg/available' so i removed it and restored the available-old now all works :)

[Vlad Lungeanu (drvladl)]

@andrews: My '/var/lib/dpkg/available' was fine, so this was not a solution. I was able to downgrade debconf since I still had the Maverick repositories in my sources, so I could downgrade the package via Synaptic.

I have managed to solve the problem by commenting out lines 26-28 in file '/usr/share/perl5/Debconf/FrontEnd/Gnome.pm'.

The lines now look like this:
# if ($this->logo) {
# $this->assistant->set_page_header_image($this->assistant_page, $this->logo);
# }

Everything seems fine now, no more terminal errors while installing or uninstalling certain packages via Synaptic. I cannot guarantee that this is safe though.

[Marius Kruger (amanica)]

@Apolodor: yes your workaround worked for me. I tested it with re-installing python-soya with synaptic.
(this didn't happen with the commandline apt-get for me)

[getaceres (getaceres)]

I've just upgraded from Maverick to Natty and i've got this bug. In another computer with Natty installed from scratch it does not happen so it might be related somehow to the upgrading process.

[John Paul Funk (funktronix)]

I have this problem with a clean install of Natty, so I don't think it's related to upgrading.

[Nikolaos Skordilis (vampirelles)]

I have the same problem with the newer debconf 1.5.36ubuntu4, on Natty with the latest 2.6.38-9 kernel.
Too many conflicts with many packages are also reported by Synaptic.

[Antonio Casado (antoniocasado)]

I confirm the same problem. In my case it appeared after updating the system.

[HousieMousie2 (housiemousie2)]

Gtk-CRITICAL **: IA__gtk_assistant_set_page_header_image: assertion `child != NULL' failed at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/FrontEnd/Gnome.pm line 27.

Got it when installing the xfce4 desktop environment... does not seem to have adversely effected the installation.

[Urustu (urustu)]

I have the same message when I install "thunderbird-locale-fr" :

Gtk-CRITICAL **: IA__gtk_assistant_set_page_header_image: assertion `child != NULL' failed at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/FrontEnd/Gnome.pm line 27, <> line 1.

(Lecture de la base de données... 364326 fichiers et répertoires déjà installés.)

Préparation du remplacement de thunderbird-locale-fr 1:3.1.7ubuntu1 (en utilisant .../thunderbird-locale-fr_1%3a3.1.7ubuntu1_all.deb) ...

Dépaquetage de la mise à jour de thunderbird-locale-fr ...

Paramétrage de thunderbird-locale-fr (1:3.1.7ubuntu1) ...

[dino99 (9d9)]

That version is no more maintained

[Belisarivs (v-pelcak)]

WTF? It is not possible to set it as Wontfix which is more appropriate?