Synaptic has 2 interfaces for debconf prompts, one GTK+ and one TUI. Unless libgtk2-perl is installed, the latter is used, giving old-fashioned debconf prompts. As reported in #339556, these Debconf prompts do not show automatically. However, clicking on the arrow used to make them appear completely. As reported in #710030, this partially broke in Synaptic 0.80. The top or bottom of prompts is hidden, and there is no way to make the terminal higher. Although the first problem reported in #710030 is different, I thought 0.80.4 was supposed to fix this, so I upgraded, but I hit the same problem today. On this system, this is very easy to reproduce. It happens every time, for any user. Just try removing the running Linux image, and you'll get a debconf warning asking you to confirm. I'm attaching a screenshot of the result. You'll notice that the options appear twice. This is not the case originally, but happens after pressing Tab twice (when the focus goes back to Yes). The bottom line seems to appear where it should be relative to the terminal's top. The terminal is 16 lines high (perhaps more sometimes). Oddly enough, it is however *too* wide when Synaptic runs in French (there is a black zone on the right). This is no more than an aesthetic concern, and may have been the case in previous versions. According to Michael, this may be a vte/GTK bug, but it definitely needs to show in Synaptic's bugs list in any case. Debian Release: jessie/sid 990 testing http.us.debian.org 500 unstable http.us.debian.org 1 experimental debian.mirror.iweb.ca --- Package information. --- Depends (Version) | Installed =========================================-+-================== libapt-inst1.5 (>= 0.8.16~exp12) | 0.9.9.4 libapt-pkg4.12 (>= 0.9.11.3) | 0.9.11.4 libatk1.0-0 (>= 1.12.4) | 2.8.0-2 libc6 (>= 2.3.6-6~) | 2.17-92+b1 libcairo-gobject2 (>= 1.10.0) | 1.12.16-2 libcairo2 (>= 1.2.4) | 1.12.16-2 libept1.4.12 (>= 1.0.9) | 1.0.9 libgcc1 (>= 1:4.1.1) | 1:4.8.1-10 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 (>= 2.22.0) | 2.28.2-1 libglib2.0-0 (>= 2.16.0) | 2.36.4-1 libgtk-3-0 (>= 3.0.0) | 3.8.4-1 libpango-1.0-0 (>= 1.14.0) | 1.32.5-5+b1 libpangocairo-1.0-0 (>= 1.14.0) | 1.32.5-5+b1 libstdc++6 (>= 4.6) | 4.8.1-10 libvte-2.90-9 (>= 1:0.27.2) | 1:0.34.6-1 libx11-6 | 2:1.6.1-1 libxapian22 | 1.2.15-2 libxext6 | 2:1.3.2-1 zlib1g (>= 1:1.1.4) | 1:1.2.8.dfsg-1 hicolor-icon-theme | 0.12-1 Recommends (Version) | Installed ==============================-+-============= gksu | 2.0.2-6 OR kdebase-bin | OR policykit-1 | 0.105-3 libgtk2-perl (>= 1:1.130) | rarian-compat | 0.8.1-5 Suggests (Version) | Installed ======================================-+-=========== dwww | menu | 2.1.46 deborphan | apt-xapian-index | 0.46 tasksel | 3.17 software-properties-gtk | 0.82.7.1debian1