Very Computer

Hi All,

I was trying to put and old 486 into use. It has 50Mhz motherboard and 50M mem.
The installation went great! The first reboot after install went OK too, the
system comes up normally.

However, after
#cp /etc/defaults/rc.conf /etc/rc.conf
and reboot again, the first part of the booting was OK (highlighted message,
detecting hardware etc.), but it hanged at line
"change root device to wd0s1a" .

After about 5 mins, it said
".: out of file descriptor"

and then dropped me into single user mode. I played around and
found if no /etc/rc.conf exists, the system boots and inits fine.

I don't understand why. Any ideas?  

--

Structural Biology Program                      Tel: (212)263-1596
Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine     Fax: (212)263-8951
New York Uni Medical Center -- 540 First Ave -- New York, NY 10016

Quote:>However, after
>#cp /etc/defaults/rc.conf /etc/rc.conf
>and reboot again, the first part of the booting was OK (highlighted message,
>detecting hardware etc.), but it hanged at line
>"change root device to wd0s1a" .

/etc/rc.conf should not be a copy of /etc/defaults/rc.conf, but just
settings of variables that you don't want the defaults for.

/etc/defaults/rc.conf *runs* /etc/rc.conf, so if it's a copy of it
you will have an infinite loop!

-- Richard
--
Spam filter: to mail me from a .com/.net site, put my surname in the headers.

"The Internet is really just a series of bottlenecks joined by high
speed networks." - Sam Wilson

The last couple of lines in /etc/defaults/rc.conf load /etc/rc.conf - hense,
if you copy the former to the latter:
    /etc/rc.conf loads:
        /etc/rc.conf, which in turn loads:
            /etc/rc.conf, which in turn loads:
                /etc/rc.conf, which in turn loads:
                    /etc/rc.conf, which in turn loads:
                        /etc/rc.conf, which in turn loads:
                            /etc/rc.conf, which in turn loads:
                                /etc/rc.conf, which in turn loads:
                                    /etc/rc.conf, which in turn loads:
                                        /etc/rc.conf, which in turn loads:
                                            /etc/rc.conf, which in turn
loads:
                                                /etc/rc.conf, which in turn
loads:
                                                    /etc/rc.conf, which in
turn loads:
                                                        /etc/rc.conf, which
in turn loads:
                                                            /etc/rc.conf,
which in turn loads:

/etc/rc.conf, which in turn loads:

/etc/rc.conf, which in turn loads:

/etc/rc.conf, which in turn loads:

/etc/rc.conf, which in turn loads:

/etc/rc.conf, which in turn loads:

/etc/rc.conf, which in turn loads:

/etc/rc.conf, which in turn loads:

/etc/rc.conf, which in turn loads:

/etc/rc.conf, which in turn loads:

/etc/rc.conf, which in turn loads:

/etc/rc.conf, which in turn loads:

/etc/rc.conf, which in turn loads:

/etc/rc.conf, which in turn loads:

Is your brain out of file descriptors yet?

Matt
--
You can kill the revolutionary
But you can't kill the revolution!

: Hi All,
:
: I was trying to put and old 486 into use. It has 50Mhz motherboard and 50M
mem.
: The installation went great! The first reboot after install went OK too,
the
: system comes up normally.
:
: However, after
: #cp /etc/defaults/rc.conf /etc/rc.conf
: and reboot again, the first part of the booting was OK (highlighted
message,
: detecting hardware etc.), but it hanged at line
: "change root device to wd0s1a" .
:
: After about 5 mins, it said
: ".: out of file descriptor"
:
: and then dropped me into single user mode. I played around and
: found if no /etc/rc.conf exists, the system boots and inits fine.
:
: I don't understand why. Any ideas?
:
: --

: Structural Biology Program                      Tel: (212)263-1596
: Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine     Fax: (212)263-8951
: New York Uni Medical Center -- 540 First Ave -- New York, NY 10016
: