A very strange symptom. I can install
NetBSD 1.6 from floppies and the sets
from ftp. All goes well.

But when I try to build packages, neither
perl5, perl58 nor icewm will build. In
particular, perl5 and icewm get caught
in an endless loop of this:

gmake[1]: Entering directory...
Analysing dependencies for...
gmake[1]: Leaving directory...

Round and round it goes entering and
leaving the same directory.

But, and this is the strange part, I
managed to clone an existing NetBSD 1.6
system onto this very laptop using
tar and ftp for EVERY next-level directory
under the / directory. I did tar on those,
ftp'd 'em over, untar'd 'em, twiddled
with /etc/fstab, and re-ran xf86config.

Then I booted, and it ran fine, just like
the parent machine. But it still will
not run make in pkgsrce just as it would
not before. But it runs the programs which
it can't make just fine. Odd, yes?

I am very puzzled. This laptop had a loose
screw rattling around inside which I removed
prior to onset of symptoms. Anybody got a
clue what kind of weird thing is going
on here that only effects gmake?

Confused,

Gan
-- 

  Mistera Sturno - Rarest Extinct Bird

  <(+)__       Gan Uesli Starling
   ((__/)=-    Kalamazoo, MI, USA
    `||`
     ++        http://starling.us