Further experimentation shows that reverting libvte9 to version 1:0.15.3-0ubuntu3 instead of the newly installed 1:0.15-4-0ubuntu1 makes gnome-terminal stable again.
That is the bug would appear to be in the new version of libvte9. ** Also affects: vte (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided Status: Unconfirmed -- [apport] gnome-terminal crashed with SIGSEGV https://launchpad.net/bugs/88616 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs