I also encountered this problem (gnome-terminal not launching) and in my case the problem was an invalid $HOME/.pam_environment file from a previous OS installation. Xterm worked fine. Removing the .pam_environment file fixed the problem; putting it back triggered the problem again.
Debian 8 does not have the same problem; although the .pam_environment file is still invalid there, gnome-terminal launches fine. $ more .pam_environment LC_NUMERIC="en_IE.UTF-8" LC_TIME="en_US.UTF-8" LC_MONETARY="en_IE.UTF-8" LC_PAPER="en_IE.UTF-8" LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_IE.UTF-8" LC_NAME="en_IE.UTF-8" LC_ADDRESS="en_IE.UTF-8" LC_TELEPHONE="en_IE.UTF-8" LC_MEASUREMENT="en_IE.UTF-8" -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to gnome-terminal in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1448563 Title: terminal won't launch with a customized locale To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-terminal/+bug/1448563/+subscriptions -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
