diff -Nru libkubuntu-14.04ubuntu3/debian/changelog libkubuntu-14.04ubuntu4/debian/changelog
--- libkubuntu-14.04ubuntu3/debian/changelog	2014-02-20 08:57:08.000000000 +0000
+++ libkubuntu-14.04ubuntu4/debian/changelog	2014-03-17 12:58:03.000000000 +0000
@@ -1,3 +1,17 @@
+libkubuntu (14.04ubuntu4) trusty; urgency=medium
+
+  * Bump standards from 3.9.4. to 3.9.5 to silence lintian.
+  * new bool LanguageCollectionPrivate::initalized
+    + defaults to false
+    + set to the return value of qapt::backend::init
+    + presents fatal init error and results in the collection being defunct
+    + collection::languages() returns an empty set if the backend could not
+      be initalized
+    This prevents crashes in l10nevent when either the apt configs or
+    the cache is busted.
+
+ -- Harald Sitter <apachelogger@kubuntu.org>  Thu, 20 Feb 2014 09:58:25 +0100
+
 libkubuntu (14.04ubuntu3) trusty; urgency=medium
 
   * Instead of manually chopping newlines, use QString::simplified
diff -Nru libkubuntu-14.04ubuntu3/debian/control libkubuntu-14.04ubuntu4/debian/control
--- libkubuntu-14.04ubuntu3/debian/control	2014-02-20 08:57:08.000000000 +0000
+++ libkubuntu-14.04ubuntu4/debian/control	2014-03-17 12:58:03.000000000 +0000
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 Maintainer: Kubuntu Developers <kubuntu-devel@lists.ubuntu.com>
 XSBC-Original-Maintainer: Harald Sitter <apachelogger@kubuntu.org>
 Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 9), pkg-kde-tools, cmake, kdelibs5-dev, libqapt-dev
-Standards-Version: 3.9.4
+Standards-Version: 3.9.5
 Vcs-Git: git://anongit.kde.org/scratch/sitter/libkubuntu.git
 
 Package: libkubuntu0
diff -Nru libkubuntu-14.04ubuntu3/src/l10n_languagecollection.cpp libkubuntu-14.04ubuntu4/src/l10n_languagecollection.cpp
--- libkubuntu-14.04ubuntu3/src/l10n_languagecollection.cpp	2014-02-20 08:57:08.000000000 +0000
+++ libkubuntu-14.04ubuntu4/src/l10n_languagecollection.cpp	2014-03-17 12:58:03.000000000 +0000
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 namespace Kubuntu {
 
 LanguageCollectionPrivate::LanguageCollectionPrivate()
+    : initalized(false)
 {
 }
 
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@
     , d_ptr(new LanguageCollectionPrivate)
 {
     Q_D(LanguageCollection);
-    d->backend.init();
+    d->initalized = d->backend.init();
     connect(&d->backend, SIGNAL(xapianUpdateProgress(int)),
             this, SIGNAL(updateProgress(int)));
     connect(&d->backend, SIGNAL(xapianUpdateFinished()),
@@ -68,7 +69,18 @@
 {
     Q_D(LanguageCollection);
 
+    // Prevent access to an uninitalized backend as QApt doesn't really like it
+    // and tends to explode at one point or another.
+    // Init can only fail when either the config parsing/loading did not
+    // work or when the cache cannot be opened for reading. Both are rather
+    // fatal, so we are not going to try to recover functionality. Once init
+    // failed the collection will be defunct.
+    if (!d->initalized) {
+        return QSet<Language *>();
+    }
+
     // Make sure the xapian cache is open at this point.
+    // TODO: look into the necessity of calling reloadCache here.
     d->backend.openXapianIndex();
 
     const QString queryString = QLatin1String("kde-l10n-");
diff -Nru libkubuntu-14.04ubuntu3/src/l10n_languagecollection_p.h libkubuntu-14.04ubuntu4/src/l10n_languagecollection_p.h
--- libkubuntu-14.04ubuntu3/src/l10n_languagecollection_p.h	2014-02-20 08:57:08.000000000 +0000
+++ libkubuntu-14.04ubuntu4/src/l10n_languagecollection_p.h	2014-03-17 12:58:03.000000000 +0000
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@
     LanguageCollectionPrivate();
 
     QApt::Backend backend;
+
+    bool initalized;
 };
 
 } // namespace Kubuntu