dpkg-reconfigure was crashing because I had edited questions.dat and set debconf/frontend to text, while /etc/cdebconf.conf had it set to newt. This seemed to make dpkg-reconfigure use a weird mix of the newt and text frontends. First it started up the newt frontend (clearing the screen), and then shut it down. Then it used the text frontend to ask the question. And then when shutdown was called, things were all messed up and it crashed. If I make the two consistent, it doesn't crash. Another way to reproduce the problem is to set the frontend to text in both cdebconf.conf and questions.dat, but then run dpkg-reconfigure -f newt. BTW, if both the config file and db have the frontend set to newt, dpkg-reconfigure -f text doesn't change the frontend. All these problems must be related.. -- see shy jo
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