As a further report I got this problem on another box, the problem in knotifyrc lies in "Arts Init" and "Use Arts" parameters which were "false". I don't know how and when those parameters were modified, but it surely wasn't apt-getting new packages. So please disregard this bug as bogus Thanks for you work
-- IS Iacopo Spalletti i dot spalletti at iast dot it PGP key block: http://www.nephila.it/pgp