I have installed the rpm from the
http://download.opensuse.org/repositori ... SUSE_11.2/ repository and I have had the same problem.
Also I tried to install the version from packman repository ... idem result
My data directory is: /home/roger/jocs/1944/
I have "straced" the spring process:
[...]
readlink("/proc/self/exe", "/usr/games/spring"..., 255) = 17
access("/usr/games/springsettings.cfg", R_OK|W_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
stat("/home/roger/.springrc-0.80.5", 0x7fff56b3d070) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/home/roger/.springrc", O_RDONLY) = 3
fcntl(3, F_SETLKW, {type=F_RDLCK, whence=SEEK_SET, start=0, len=0}) = 0
fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=121, ...}) = 0
mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7f9d32571000
lseek(3, 0, SEEK_SET) = 0
read(3, "SpringData=/home/roger/jocs/1944"..., 4096) = 121
read(3, "", 4096) = 0
fcntl(3, F_SETLKW, {type=F_UNLCK, whence=SEEK_SET, start=0, len=0}) = 0
close(3) = 0
[...]
stat("/home/roger/jocs/1944/", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
access("/home/roger/jocs/1944/", W_OK) = 0
stat("/usr/games/", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat("/home/roger/.spring/", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat("/usr//usr/share/games/spring/", 0x7fff76b248f0) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
futex(0x7facd6af2190, FUTEX_WAKE_PRIVATE, 2147483647) = 0
rt_sigaction(SIGSEGV, NULL, {0x8d0ee0, [SEGV], SA_RESTORER|SA_RESTART, 0x7facd65b3560},

= 0
rt_sigaction(SIGBUS, NULL, {SIG_DFL, [], 0},

= 0
rt_sigaction(SIGFPE, NULL, {SIG_DFL, [], 0},

= 0
rt_sigaction(SIGQUIT, NULL, {SIG_DFL, [], 0},

= 0
write(1, "Content error: specify data dire"..., 68Content error: specify data directories using absolute paths please) = 68
rt_sigaction(SIGSEGV, NULL, {0x8d0ee0, [SEGV], SA_RESTORER|SA_RESTART, 0x7f9d2edef560},

= 0
rt_sigaction(SIGBUS, NULL, {SIG_DFL, [], 0},

= 0
rt_sigaction(SIGFPE, NULL, {SIG_DFL, [], 0},

= 0
rt_sigaction(SIGQUIT, NULL, {SIG_DFL, [], 0},

= 0
clone(child_stack=0, flags=CLONE_CHILD_CLEARTID|CLONE_CHILD_SETTID|SIGCHLD, child_tidptr=0x7f9d3253e7e0) = 9992
wait4(9992, [{WIFEXITED(s) && WEXITSTATUS(s) == 0}], 0, NULL) = 9992
--- SIGCHLD (Child exited) @ 0 (0) ---
exit_group(-1) = ?
So, it looks like that the binary reads the config file without problems, also it can red/write at the data directory, but it still breaks on error.
I have created a symbolic link to /usr//usr/share/games/spring/ bypass the error show ... but I get the same result:
[...]
stat("/home/roger/.spring/", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
stat("/usr//usr/share/games/spring/", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0775, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
futex(0x7f9d2f32e190, FUTEX_WAKE_PRIVATE, 2147483647) = 0
rt_sigaction(SIGSEGV, NULL, {0x8d0ee0, [SEGV], SA_RESTORER|SA_RESTART, 0x7f9d2edef560},

= 0
rt_sigaction(SIGBUS, NULL, {SIG_DFL, [], 0},

= 0
rt_sigaction(SIGFPE, NULL, {SIG_DFL, [], 0},

= 0
rt_sigaction(SIGQUIT, NULL, {SIG_DFL, [], 0},

= 0
write(1, "Content error: specify data dire"..., 68Content error: specify data directories using absolute paths please
) = 68
rt_sigaction(SIGSEGV, NULL, {0x8d0ee0, [SEGV], SA_RESTORER|SA_RESTART, 0x7f9d2edef560},

= 0
rt_sigaction(SIGBUS, NULL, {SIG_DFL, [], 0},

= 0
rt_sigaction(SIGFPE, NULL, {SIG_DFL, [], 0},

= 0
rt_sigaction(SIGQUIT, NULL, {SIG_DFL, [], 0},

= 0
clone(child_stack=0, flags=CLONE_CHILD_CLEARTID|CLONE_CHILD_SETTID|SIGCHLD, child_tidptr=0x7f9d3253e7e0) = 9992
wait4(9992, [{WIFEXITED(s) && WEXITSTATUS(s) == 0}], 0, NULL) = 9992
--- SIGCHLD (Child exited) @ 0 (0) ---
exit_group(-1) = ?
So thats not the problem
TIA.