Problem with debconf

[Ian Monroe <eean@mlug.missouri.edu>]

About a week ago I did an apt-get upgrade and on setting up debconf I got
an error.
Here is the output of dpkg --configure debconf:
Setting up debconf (1.0.17) ...

Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display: 
debconf: unable to initialize frontend: Gnome
debconf: (DISPLAY problem?)
debconf: falling back to frontend: Dialog
Use of uninitialized value in pattern match (m//) at /usr/share/debconf/frontend line 35.
Use of uninitialized value in pattern match (m//) at /usr/share/debconf/frontend line 74.
Use of uninitialized value in pattern match (m//) at /usr/share/debconf/frontend line 77.
Use of uninitialized value in pattern match (m//) at /usr/share/debconf/frontend line 93.
open2: exec of  failed at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/ConfModule.pm line 40
dpkg: error processing debconf (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 255
Errors were encountered while processing:
 debconf

The GTK warning was there before - I ran this in console (if there is a
option for me to decide, it uses ncurses or just the stdout).

I recieved simular errors when configuring webmin-ssl, which I have sinced
removed.

Thanks,
Ian Monroe
http://mlug.missouri.edu/~eean/