Comment 3 for bug 393943

Sorry, did not work. The problem is still the same. There were some strange messages about unmet dependencies though...
(
Below is the output. Afterwards, I also tried to remove everything "pidgin" in its name using Synaptic, and then reinstall pidgin and everything it depends on. Did not help. :-(

jan@hp530:~$ sudo aptitude purge pidgin && sudo aptitude install pidgin
[sudo] password for jan:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Initializing package states... Done
Writing extended state information... Done
The following packages are BROKEN:
  pidgin-libnotify pidgin-otr
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  pidgin{p}
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 1655kB will be freed.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
  pidgin-libnotify: Depends: pidgin (< 1:3.0) but it is not installable
                    Depends: pidgin (>= 1:2.5) but it is not installable
  pidgin-otr: Depends: pidgin (< 1:3.0) but it is not installable
              Depends: pidgin (>= 1:2.5) but it is not installable
The following actions will resolve these dependencies:

Remove the following packages:
pidgin-libnotify
pidgin-otr

Leave the following dependencies unresolved:
ubuntu-desktop recommends pidgin
ubuntu-desktop recommends pidgin-libnotify
ubuntu-desktop recommends pidgin-otr
Score is -412

Accept this solution? [Y/n/q/?] Y
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  pidgin{p} pidgin-libnotify{a} pidgin-otr{a}
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 3 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 2286kB will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] Y
Writing extended state information... Done
(Reading database ... 174534 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing pidgin-otr ...
Removing pidgin-libnotify ...
(Reading database ... 174519 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing pidgin ...
Purging configuration files for pidgin ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Processing triggers for menu ...
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
Writing extended state information... Done

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  pidgin
0 packages upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B/519kB of archives. After unpacking 1655kB will be used.
Writing extended state information... Done
Selecting previously deselected package pidgin.
(Reading database ... 174485 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking pidgin (from .../pidgin_1%3a2.5.5-1ubuntu8.1_i386.deb) ...
Processing triggers for menu ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up pidgin (1:2.5.5-1ubuntu8.1) ...

Processing triggers for menu ...
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
Writing extended state information... Done