🚀 go-pugleaf

Which version of Andrew are you running?  It seems to me I had that
problem with a poorly configured beta-version, but Champ runs fine for
me now -- I've had no problems with the R3 release (except for a
screen-redisplay glitch in CHOMP, which I've diagnosed and reported to
the ITC.)

I use the following preference to get at my champ files:

*.champpath:
~/lib/champ/dapper.champ:~/lib/champ/events.champ:~/lib/champ/hebrew.cham
p

I run in the same hardware and OS environment that you do, so I suspect
the problem is somewhere either in your preferences or conceivably the
ANDREWDIR variable or something in the in your AndrewSetup file.

One possibility is that you've got the system configured wrong vis-a-vis
the white pages, yellow pages, and /etc/passwd.  In this case, the
software might not be properly resolving tildes in your preferences. 
You can test this hypothesis by running the CUI program and giving the
command "cat ~/preferences" (i.e. asking it to cat a file in your home
directory).  If that doesn't work, that is probably CHAMP's problem,
too, and you should look at the configuration values that tell the
system what to use for a password/wp/yp database.

If you're really stuck, bear in mind that "chump" is a non-ATK program,
and therefore easy to debug with any debugger.  Look particularly at the
piece of code where it reads your champ path (atk/champ/read.c).  Good
luck.  -- Nathaniel