Subject: Re: serial console troubles...
To: Paul Treadwell <paul.treadwell@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
From: Bill Studenmund <wrstuden@zembu.com>
List: port-mac68k
Date: 03/12/2001 08:59:38
On Sat, 10 Mar 2001, Paul Treadwell wrote:

> Finally got some time to play with netBSD...
> 
> >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 ?

You can, but the installer is SLOW. You said you can boot single user. I'd
recomend doing that.

> >Start in single-user mode, and do an fsck on all of your partitions.
> >Either we or the fac can help with this if you have questions. Then "mount
> >-u /" and fire up vipw (I'm assuming /usr is in /, otherwise you need to
> >mount it too). Look and see what your password line looks like. You might
> >see an obvious bug.
> 
> I did this and didn't spot anything obvious. It seems to me (check my logic
> here !) that if, as happens, I get "incorrect login" as soon as I enter
> either a username or root, then the password file probably isn't even being
> checked (I'm never asked for a password). So something is screwy further
> upstream, as it were. Maybe login ? If that's so, would etc.tgz still be
> the right package to reinstall ?

No, reinstalling etc was to fix up botched init files. :-) Also try
writing the file before exiting vipw. Like change one letter in someone's
GECOS field. That'll force a rebuild of the databases (whic if were hosed
would do what you see).

The other thing would be to get an md5 on your login and init.

Take care,

Bill