Upgrade breaks USB disk automount

[Jose Gomez-Dans]

The latest and greatest dist-upgrade on my Dapper system has resulted
in new versions of HAL-related packages being installed
(hal_0.5.7-1ubuntu18.2, libhal1_0.5.7-1ubuntu18.2,
ibhal-storage1_0.5.7-1ubuntu18-2). The system no longer pops up my USB
disk on the desktop, nor is it available for automatic mounting. In a
word, it is as if HAL didn't exist. In /var/log/daemon.log appear many
entries of HAL detecting the new hardware, but appear increasingly
convoluted:
Nov 23 19:37:43 localhost NetworkManager: <debug
info>^I[1164307063.278577] nm_hal_device_added (): New device added
(hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/storage_serial_SEAGATE_ST3200822A_123456789012').
Nov 23 19:37:43 localhost NetworkManager: <debug
info>^I[1164307063.362589] nm_hal_device_added (): New device added
(hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/volume_uuid_444A_27E2').

Has this happened to anybody else? The disk can still be mounted using
mount/pmount, but...

Cheers!