I can't reproduce this. For me the 'Paste' menu option IS disabled when my buffer is empty. I'm using Gaim 2.0.0 beta 3 and gtk 2.8.18.
Do you think you could get a stacktrace? I'm not sure how easy that is with Ubuntu. There are some generic instructions at http://gaim.sourceforge.net/gdb.php -- gaim does not deactivite 'paste' command when no buffer, and executing it causes crash https://launchpad.net/bugs/49691 -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
