Gaim crashes, it doesn't even start: Segmentation fault (core dumped)

Thank you for your bug. Could you get a backtrace with libglib2.0-0-dbg libgtk2.0-0-dbg gaim-dbg installed?

I'm not sure if I did everything right but here should be the backtrace:

(gdb) run
The program being debugged has been started already.
Start it from the beginning? (y or n) y
Starting program: /usr/bin/gaim
[Thread debugging using libthread_db enabled]
[New Thread -1223076176 (LWP 11529)]
[New Thread -1238783072 (LWP 11537)]
libnm_glib_nm_state_cb: dbus returned an error.
  (org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown) The name org.freedesktop.NetworkManager was not provided by any .service files

Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
[Switching to Thread -1223076176 (LWP 11529)]
IA__g_utf8_validate (str=0x0, max_len=-1, end=0x0) at gutf8.c:1561
1561 gutf8.c: No such file or directory.
        in gutf8.c
(gdb) bt full
#0 IA__g_utf8_validate (str=0x0, max_len=-1, end=0x0) at gutf8.c:1561
        p = <value optimized out>
#1 0xb79bb6cf in strdup_len (string=0x0, len=-1, bytes_written=0x0,
    bytes_read=0x0, error=0x0) at gconvert.c:984
        real_len = <value optimized out>
#2 0xb79bbe11 in IA__g_filename_from_utf8 (utf8string=0x0, len=-1,
    bytes_read=0x0, bytes_written=0x0, error=0x0) at gconvert.c:1362
        charset = <value optimized out>
#3 0xb794635a in prefs_start_element_handler (context=0x82acaa0,
    element_name=0x82ad6f8 "pref", attribute_names=0x8333ba8,
    attribute_values=0x829b070, user_data=0x0, error=0xbf816630)
    at ../../libgaim/prefs.c:323
        pref = <value optimized out>
        pref_type = GAIM_PREF_PATH
        pref_name = 0x8173a08 "last_icon_folder"
        pref_value = 0x0
        pref_name_full = (GString *) 0x82f9e90
        tmp = <value optimized out>
#4 0xb79d656b in IA__g_markup_parse_context_parse (context=0x82acaa0,
    text=0x8333bd8 "<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' ?>\n\n<pref version='1' name='/'>\n\t<pref name='core'>\n\t\t<pref name='away'>\n\t\t\t<pref name='idle_reporting' type='string' value='system'/>\n\t\t\t<pref name='away_when_idl"..., text_len=24324, error=0x0) at gmarkup.c:1321
---Type <return> to continue, or q <return> to quit---
        start_name = (const gchar *) 0x82ad6f8 "pref"
        empty = (const gchar *) 0x0
        attr_names = <value optimized out>
        attr_values = (const gchar **) 0x829b070
        tmp_error = (GError *) 0x0
        first_invalid = (const gchar *) 0x8339adc ""
        __PRETTY_FUNCTION__ = "IA__g_markup_parse_context_parse"
#5 0xb7945cd1 in gaim_prefs_load () at ../../libgaim/prefs.c:404
        filename = (gchar *) 0x829b000 "/home/jonsson/.gaim/prefs.xml"
        contents = (
    gchar *) 0x8333bd8 "<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' ?>\n\n<pref version='1' name='/'>\n\t<pref name='core'>\n\t\t<pref name='away'>\n\t\t\t<pref name='idle_reporting' type='string' value='system'/>\n\t\t\t<pref name='away_when_idl"...
        length = 24324
        context = (GMarkupParseContext *) 0x82acaa0
        error = (GError *) 0x0
#6 0x080ae03c in main (argc=Cannot access memory at address 0xffffffff
) at ../../gtk/gtkmain.c:717
        display = <value optimized out>
        opt_help = 0
        opt_login = 0
        opt_nologin = 0
        opt_version = <value optimized out>
---Type <return> to continue, or q <return> t...

When I try "$ sudo gaim" gaim starts normally, but there's still an error: jonsson@jonsson-desktop:~$ sudo gaim
libnm_glib_nm_state_cb: dbus returned an error.
  (org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown) The name org.freedesktop.NetworkManager was not provided by any .service files

Thank you for the backtrace

Edgy and gaim are not supported anymore. Please open a new bug if you get a crash with pidgin in a later version of Ubuntu.