Comment 3 for bug 245685

I can second this bug report:

I start pidgin 1:2.4.3-0ubuntu1~hardy1 from archive.ubuntu.com. There are no error messages, and pidgin reports status: available. However, there are also no buddies, not even offline buddies. All groups are empty.

When I go check my accounts, their protocol is "unknown" ("Unbekannt" in German). Editing an account trying to re-set the protocol does not succeed: the dropdown list with the protocols is empty: I cannot select a protocol.

What puzzles me most, is that it used to work after the update; it's a recent development.