gmc failing to start

[Damo <adagio effect net au>]

(gdb) file gmc
Reading symbols from gmc...done.
(gdb) run
Starting program: /usr/local/bin/gmc 
GNU Midnight Commander 4.5.17

[ here the program does nothing, makes no signs of life until i press ctrl z ]

Program received signal SIGTSTP, Stopped (user).
0x4056a1e1 in __libc_nanosleep ()


any ideas?
 -damo