Synaptic trouble under FC2

[beartooth]

Apologies if it's premature to put an FC2 question here! I've been running
it on one machine, updating with synaptic, which I invoke from a launcher
on the panel. This morning that kept failing: the program would demand
root's password, get it, start to open, and then suddenly disappear.

So I tried it another way :
                             =====
                                                                                     
[root at localhost root]# synaptic &
[1] 24587
[root at localhost root]#
(synaptic:24587): Gtk-CRITICAL **: file gtkwidget.c: line 2041
(gtk_widget_hide): assertion `GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
                                                                                     
[root at localhost root]#
(synaptic:24587): Gtk-CRITICAL **: file gtktreeview.c: line 7732
(gtk_tree_view_unref_tree_helper): assertion `node != NULL' failed
                                                                                     
                           ====

After a couple error messages like that, at least one mentioning a
segmentation fault, iirc, I did "yum update synaptic" -- only to be told
it was already installed and the latest version. But next time -- i.e.,
the iteration shown above -- it did open, stay open, and appeared to work.

I'd been planning to start upgrading FC1 machines to FC2, as soon as I
could be sure I'd gotten an updater on the first machine through the
transition to legacy. But now, it seems, synaptic is having real troubles
even before the transition -- unless there's some relevance there that I
don't see.

Any comment a/o advice welcome!

-- 
Beartooth Implacable, Linux Evangelist & Gadfly
neo-redneck, curmudgeonly codger with FC1&2, YDL4
Pine 4.62, Pan 0.14.2; Privoxy 3.0.1; Opera 7.54, Firefox 1.0
Bear in mind that I have little idea what I am talking about.