Q:  I changed /etc/fstab, and now NEXTSTEP won't boot.  If I boot the system in single-user mode, I can't edit /etc/fstab to fix it because the file system is read-only.  What do I do to fix it?

A:  The start-up script /etc/rc.boot makes the root filesystem read-write with the command:

	mount -o remount /

The mount command looks in /etc/fstab for an entry that describes "/". It should find a line like:

	/dev/sd0a    /    4.3   rw,noquota,noauto     0    1

This means that the filesystem on the device sd0a should be mounted as the root ("/") filesystem.  If this line in the /etc/fstab file is missing,  incorrect, or damaged, the mount command fails.  You are left with a read-only root filesystem.

The solution is to re-mount the root file system with the shell command:

	# mount -o remount /dev/sd0a /

In this form, you are telling mount exactly which device to use, so it doesn't look in /etc/fstab and get confused.  Once you have the root filesystem mounted read-write, fix it with a text editor (don't include any blank lines) or get a copy of a default /etc/fstab.  You can find default copies in /usr/template/client. i.e.:

	# cp /usr/template/client/etc/fstab.sd330 /etc/fstab

Then shut down and reboot your system:

	# reboot

QA833

Valid for 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 3.1