> >I think all you need to reinstall is the etc.tgz package, and you can do
> >it in single user mode.
> Can I do this from the Mac side, as in the initial setup ?

It's probably fastest to boot into single-user mode (there's a checkbox
in the booter).  When you're in NetBSD, you can
	# mount -u /
(or if your /etc/fstab is not correct: mount -u /dev/sd0a /)

The 'u' stands for 'u'pdate this mount and "to read/write" is
understood.  If you get a message about 'fsck', then do
	# mount -u -r /
	# fsck /dev/sd0a
	# mount -u /dev/sd0a /

[this all assumes that your root partition is sd0a]

Reinstall etc.tgz or run vipw (after setting your terminal type with
TERM=vt220 ; export TERM) and make sure that the password file looks
reasonable.  You should see something that looks kind of like:

	root:x009124BDA8Kx:0:0::0:0:Charlie &:/root:/bin/csh

If not, your installation is messed up.  When you :wq from vi, it
should rebuild the password databases and update /etc/passwd from
/etc/master.passwd (which is what you're editing in vipw).

> Also, is there any way to gracefully get out of netBSD when you can't login
> ? I'm guessing there isn't.

Pop into the debugger if it's installed (this is either a "programmer's
switch" or control-command-power, depending on the model).  Once you're
at the debugger prompt, 'reboot' should be about as graceful as it's
going to get.

-allen

-- 
 Allen Briggs                     briggs@wasabisystems.com
 http://www.wasabisystems.com/    Quality NetBSD CDs, Sales, Support, Service