Proof that I shouldn't attempt anything before coffee. I figured out what happened. During 0.9.9.1, I switched from playing in Windows to playing in Linux, using the config file from Windows where I had already turned off music. So everything works fine. I download 0.9.9.2 and run it without config file changes, it won't run. I see timidity is a requirement, but then see it was a requirement for 0.9.9.1, which worked, so I figure I have it. I poke at the problem and realize Doomrl is choking because it's looking for a file that doesn't exist. So I 'touch' the file, Doomrl runs but there is no background music. Turns out I'm an idiot, because timidity wasn't even installed. So I installed it, but now I need to find something called 'soundfonts'. I'm just going to turn music off.
To summarize, if you turn game music off (not all sound), then Doomrl will run without timidity. If you have game music on, you better have timidity installed, because the error message only flashes for a fraction of a second if you don't. I guess Doomrl could verify the file exists and quit gracefully or turn off music if it doesn't.