diff -ur ldmud-3.3.714/src/simulate.c ldmud-3.3.714-zesstra/src/simulate.c
--- ldmud-3.3.714/src/simulate.c	2006-07-10 04:42:06.000000000 +0200
+++ ldmud-3.3.714-zesstra/src/simulate.c	2007-02-25 16:15:09.000000000 +0100
@@ -1762,6 +1762,13 @@
     if ('/' == lname[0])
         fatal("Improper filename '%s' passed to load_object()\n", lname);
 #endif
+    
+    // empty lnames may lead to a driver crash in enter_object_hash() if there 
+    // exists a file '.c' in the root of the mudlib.
+    if ((name_length=strlen(lname)) <= 1) {
+         load_object_error("Illegal file to load (empty filename)", lname, chain);
+         /* NOTREACHED */
+    }
 
     /* It could be that the passed filename is one of an already loaded
      * object. In that case, simply return that object.
@@ -1776,7 +1783,6 @@
      * the second because lname might be a buffer which is deleted
      * during the compilation process.
      */
-    name_length = strlen(lname);
     name = alloca(name_length+2);
     fname = alloca(name_length+4);
     if (!name || !fname)

diff -ur ldmud-3.3.714/src/mstrings.c ldmud-3.3.714-zesstra/src/mstrings.c
--- ldmud-3.3.714/src/mstrings.c	2006-07-10 04:43:25.000000000 +0200
+++ ldmud-3.3.714-zesstra/src/mstrings.c	2007-02-25 15:56:17.000000000 +0100
@@ -179,22 +179,16 @@
 #endif /* EXT_STRING_STATS */
 
 /*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
-static INLINE whash_t
+/*
+whash_t
 hash_string (const char * const s, size_t size)
-
-/* Compute the hash for string <s> of length <size> and return it.
+ * Compute the hash for string <s> of length <size> and return it.
  * The result will always be non-zero.
+ * NOTE: The definition of the function is now in mstrings.h because it is
+ * also used in otable.c and the definition needs to be in every compilation
+ * unit which uses it.
  */
 
-{
-    whash_t hash;
-
-    hash = whashmem(s, size, MSTRING_HASH_LENGTH);
-    if (!hash)
-        hash = 1 << (sizeof (hash) * CHAR_BIT - 1);
-    return hash;
-} /* hash_string() */
-
 /*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
 static INLINE whash_t
 get_hash (string_t * pStr)
diff -ur ldmud-3.3.714/src/mstrings.h ldmud-3.3.714-zesstra/src/mstrings.h
--- ldmud-3.3.714/src/mstrings.h	2006-07-10 04:43:26.000000000 +0200
+++ ldmud-3.3.714-zesstra/src/mstrings.h	2007-02-25 15:52:32.000000000 +0100
@@ -117,6 +117,26 @@
 
 /* --- Inline functions and macros --- */
 
+/*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
+static INLINE whash_t
+hash_string (const char * const s, size_t size)
+/* Compute the hash for string <s> of length <size> and return it.
+ * The result will always be non-zero.
+ * Needs to be in mstrings.h to be inlined because otable.c also uses it.
+ * NOTE: it is static so the compiler generates inline functions only visible
+ * in the compilation unit. Thus the linker does not bail out in case the 
+ * compiler does not inline it and it is portable on systems not supporting inline.
+ */
+{
+    whash_t hash;
+
+    hash = whashmem(s, size, MSTRING_HASH_LENGTH);
+    if (!hash)
+        hash = 1 << (sizeof (hash) * CHAR_BIT - 1);
+    return hash;
+} /* hash_string() */
+/*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
+
 #define mstr_mem_size(s) \
     (sizeof(string_t) + (s)->size)
 
diff -ur ldmud-3.3.714/src/otable.c ldmud-3.3.714-zesstra/src/otable.c
--- ldmud-3.3.714/src/otable.c	2006-07-10 04:42:56.000000000 +0200
+++ ldmud-3.3.714-zesstra/src/otable.c	2007-02-25 16:12:12.000000000 +0100
@@ -51,10 +51,10 @@
 
 #if !( (OTABLE_SIZE) & (OTABLE_SIZE)-1 )
 #    define ObjHash(s)        (mstr_get_hash(s) & ((OTABLE_SIZE)-1) )
-#    define ObjHashStr(s,len) (whashmem(s, len, MSTRING_HASH_LENGTH) & ((OTABLE_SIZE)-1) )
+#    define ObjHashStr(s,len) (hash_string(s, len) & ((OTABLE_SIZE)-1) )
 #else
 #    define ObjHash(s)        (mstr_get_hash(s) % OTABLE_SIZE)
-#    define ObjHashStr(s,len) (whashmem(s, len, MSTRING_HASH_LENGTH) % OTABLE_SIZE)
+#    define ObjHashStr(s,len) (hash_string(s, len) % OTABLE_SIZE)
 #endif
 /* Hash the string <s> and compute the appropriate table index
  */