I found that I had an older version of the 'gem.pd_linux' from June 4 2009 so I download the src and compiled Gem 0.92.3 and installed the new 'gem.pd_linux' binary in the Gem lib now [plugin~] no longer crashes when sent [info] and [listplugins] messages **major thanks to IOhannes and Hans-Christoph for their assistance and patience! :)