This seems fixed in current Ubuntu 12.04, you get a dialog box with the error message and the package problem.
** Changed in: language-selector (Ubuntu) Status: Triaged => Fix Released -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to language-selector in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/757280 Title: gnome-language-selector crashed in _run() on uninstallable packages Status in “language-selector” package in Ubuntu: Fix Released Bug description: Binary package hint: language-selector The following packages have unmet dependencies: language-pack-en: Depends: language-pack-en-base (>= 1:11.04+20110324) but 1:11.04+20110407 is to be installed language-pack-gnome-en: Depends: language-pack-gnome-en-base (>= 1:11.04+20110324) but 1:11.04+20110407 is to be installed Depends: language-pack-en-base (>= 1:11.04+20110324) but 1:11.04+20110407 is to be installed ProblemType: Crash DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04 Package: language-selector-gnome 0.30 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.41-generic 2.6.38.2 Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic x86_64 Architecture: amd64 Date: Mon Apr 11 10:22:21 2011 ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/gnome-language-selector InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007) InterpreterPath: /usr/bin/python2.7 PackageArchitecture: all ProcCmdline: /usr/bin/python /usr/bin/gnome-language-selector ProcEnviron: LANGUAGE=en_US:en PATH=(custom, user) LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/bash PythonArgs: ['/usr/bin/gnome-language-selector'] SourcePackage: language-selector Title: gnome-language-selector crashed with Depends in _run(): language-pack-en-base (>= 1:11.04+20110324) but 1:11.04+20110407 is to be installed UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-03-07 (34 days ago) UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare vboxusers To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/language-selector/+bug/757280/+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