According to a comment in the linked Debian bug report, this is caused by 03_tasklist_orientation.patch in gnome-panel.
** Also affects: gnome-panel (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided Status: New -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to gnome-panel in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/847464 Title: libwnck-3-0 gnome-panel SIGFPE in wnck_tasklist_size_allocate Status in The Window Navigator Construction Kit: libwnck: Unknown Status in “gnome-panel” package in Ubuntu: New Status in “libwnck3” package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Status in “gnome-panel” package in Debian: Unknown Bug description: Set bottom-panel orientation to "left". Gnome panel will no longer start. Set the orientation to "bottom" and gnome-panel starts ok again. $ gnome-panel (gnome-panel:2796): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: /build/buildd/glib2.0-2.29.90/./gobject/gsignal.c:2295: signal `size_request' is invalid for instance `0xc76a20' Floating point exception (core dumped) dmesg shows: gnome-panel[2343] trap divide error ip:7ffd3812c8dc sp:7fff765a3e60 error:0 in libwnck-3.so.0.1.0[7ffd3810d000+3c000] ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10 Package: gnome-panel 1:3.1.91-0ubuntu1 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-10.16-generic 3.0.4 Uname: Linux 3.0.0-10-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 1.22.1-0ubuntu2 Architecture: amd64 Date: Mon Sep 12 00:46:21 2011 SourcePackage: gnome-panel UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/libwnck/+bug/847464/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp