I confirm this bug - crashing is based on terminal size. Terminal size: 24 x 364 => Segmentation fault 24 x 363 => Ok 23 x 344 => Segmentation fault 24 x 344 => Sgmentation fault 25 x 344 => Segmentation faul 25 x 343 => Ok 24 x 343 => Ok 23 x 343 => Ok echo ${LINES} ${COLUMNS}; sudo aptitude update 24 344 Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty Release.gpg Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty/main Translation-en_GB Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty/restricted Translation-en_GB Hit http://security.ubuntu.com jaunty-security Release.gpg Ign http://security.ubuntu.com jaunty-security/universe Translation-en_GB Ign http://security.ubuntu.com jaunty-security/multiverse Translation-en_GB Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty/universe Translation-en_GB Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty/multiverse Translation-en_GB Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty-updates Release.gpg Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty-updates/universe Translation-en_GB Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty-updates/multiverse Translation-en_GB Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty Release Hit http://security.ubuntu.com jaunty-security Release Ign http://download.skype.com stable Release.gpg Ign http://download.skype.com stable/non-free Translation-en_GB Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty-updates Release Ign http://download.skype.com stable Release Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty/main Packages Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty/restricted Packages Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty/universe Packages Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty/multiverse Packages Hit http://security.ubuntu.com jaunty-security/universe Packages Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty-updates/universe Packages Hit http://security.ubuntu.com jaunty-security/multiverse Packages Hit http://download.skype.com stable/non-free Packages Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty-updates/multiverse Packages *** glibc detected *** aptitude: free(): invalid pointer: 0x0b265d38 *** ======= Backtrace: ========= /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6[0xb7aaa604] /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6(cfree+0x96)[0xb7aac5b6] /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6(_ZdlPv+0x21)[0xb7c8c231] /usr/lib/libsigc-2.0.so.0(_ZN4sigc9slot_baseD1Ev+0x3f)[0xb7f7c22f] /usr/lib/libsigc-2.0.so.0(_ZNSt4listIN4sigc9slot_baseESaIS1_EE5eraseESt14_List_iteratorIS1_E+0x37)[0xb7f7b5c7] /usr/lib/libsigc-2.0.so.0(_ZN4sigc8internal11signal_impl5sweepEv+0x58)[0xb7f7b218] /usr/lib/libsigc-2.0.so.0(_ZN4sigc8internal11signal_impl6notifyEPv+0x30)[0xb7f7b250] /usr/lib/libsigc-2.0.so.0(_ZN4sigc8internal8slot_rep10disconnectEv+0x27)[0xb7f7bed7] /usr/lib/libsigc-2.0.so.0(_ZN4sigc8internal8slot_rep6notifyEPv+0x35)[0xb7f7bf25] /usr/lib/libsigc-2.0.so.0(_ZN4sigc8internal23trackable_callback_listD1Ev+0x31)[0xb7f7b811] /usr/lib/libsigc-2.0.so.0(_ZN4sigc9trackable16notify_callbacksEv+0x2b)[0xb7f7b89b] /usr/lib/libsigc-2.0.so.0(_ZN4sigc9trackableD2Ev+0x1d)[0xb7f7b90d] aptitude[0x816e17b] aptitude[0x818cd6d] aptitude[0x818a5ee] aptitude[0x814e76e] aptitude[0x8148fe1] aptitude[0x805e6cf] /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xe5)[0xb7a51775] aptitude[0x805cbb1] ======= Memory map: ======== 08048000-0824e000 r-xp 00000000 08:03 262172 /usr/bin/aptitude 0824e000-0824f000 r--p 00206000 08:03 262172 /usr/bin/aptitude 0824f000-08250000 rw-p 00207000 08:03 262172 /usr/bin/aptitude 08250000-08252000 rw-p 08250000 00:00 0 0a1a4000-0b2ce000 rw-p 0a1a4000 00:00 0 [heap] b5d00000-b5d21000 rw-p b5d00000 00:00 0 b5d21000-b5e00000 ---p b5d21000 00:00 0 b5e50000-b5e51000 ---p b5e50000 00:00 0 b5e51000-b671f000 rw-p b5e51000 00:00 0 b67ad000-b67b7000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 1038707 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libnss_files-2.9.so b67b7000-b67b8000 r--p 00009000 08:05 1038707 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libnss_files-2.9.so b67b8000-b67b9000 rw-p 0000a000 08:05 1038707 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libnss_files-2.9.so b67b9000-b67c2000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 1038710 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libnss_nis-2.9.so b67c2000-b67c3000 r--p 00008000 08:05 1038710 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libnss_nis-2.9.so b67c3000-b67c4000 rw-p 00009000 08:05 1038710 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libnss_nis-2.9.so b67c4000-b67d9000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 1038703 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libnsl-2.9.so b67d9000-b67da000 r--p 00014000 08:05 1038703 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libnsl-2.9.so b67da000-b67db000 rw-p 00015000 08:05 1038703 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libnsl-2.9.so b67db000-b67dd000 rw-p b67db000 00:00 0 b67dd000-b67e4000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 1038704 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libnss_compat-2.9.so b67e4000-b67e5000 r--p 00006000 08:05 1038704 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libnss_compat-2.9.so b67e5000-b67e6000 rw-p 00007000 08:05 1038704 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libnss_compat-2.9.so b6802000-b6d4b000 rw-p b6802000 00:00 0 b6d4b000-b78ff000 r--s 00000000 08:05 486895 /var/cache/apt/pkgcache.bin b78ff000-b7905000 r--p 00000000 08:03 1919314 /usr/share/locale/en_GB/LC_MESSAGES/libapt-pkg4.7.mo b7905000-b7906000 r--p 00000000 08:03 1927335 /usr/share/locale-langpack/en_GB/LC_MESSAGES/aptitude.mo b7906000-b7945000 r--p 00000000 08:03 696336 /usr/lib/locale/en_GB.utf8/LC_CTYPE b7945000-b7a30000 r--p 00000000 08:03 712806 /usr/lib/locale/en_GB.utf8/LC_COLLATE b7a30000-b7a32000 rw-p b7a30000 00:00 0 b7a32000-b7a34000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 1038700 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libdl-2.9.so b7a34000-b7a35000 r--p 00001000 08:05 1038700 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libdl-2.9.so b7a35000-b7a36000 rw-p 00002000 08:05 1038700 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libdl-2.9.so b7a36000-b7a37000 rw-p b7a36000 00:00 0 b7a37000-b7a39000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 1039606 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libutil-2.9.so b7a39000-b7a3a000 r--p 00001000 08:05 1039606 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libutil-2.9.so b7a3a000-b7a3b000 rw-p 00002000 08:05 1039606 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libutil-2.9.so b7a3b000-b7b97000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 1038697 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc-2.9.so b7b97000-b7b98000 ---p 0015c000 08:05 1038697 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc-2.9.so b7b98000-b7b9a000 r--p 0015c000 Aborted