xgrass problems

I am running xgrass, and would like to be able to change the
default database and location. I have tried using:

   xgrass4.1 -dbase /usr/local/apps/grass/spearfish -location PERMANENT

where my database and associated location are as shown above (note that
this is the location for previous default directories). Also, when I
run xgrass and use the "Add Items ..." utility, I get a message stating:
"That database exists, but is not in the database list. Unfortunately, the
database list is not writable"

Finally, do I have to recompile grass to reassign the DEFAULT_DATABASE and
DEFAULT_LOCATION settings? Thanks for any help.

John Stamm
Interactive Computer Graphics Lab
Princeton NJ 08544
jstamm@phoenix.princeton.edu