FreeBSD 5.x / make installworld woes

[Edmund L. Wong]

Hello all,

I am a relatively new FreeBSD user running a CURRENT
version of FreeBSD 5.x (I forget the number, but I
just rebuilt the kernel about a week ago).  When I ran
a make buildworld/installworld this morning after
updating my sources (via cvsup), the installworld
portion failed at some point.  Following this, most
functionality in my system now ceases to work
(including ls, rm, etc.).  I can get a prompt as root
but not much else.

I do realize now that it is recommened that I rebuild
the kernel, run mergemaster and reboot before doing
installworld.  But obviously its a bit late for that
now.

Is there any way this installation can be saved?  Or
must I reinstall from scratch now?  If so, is there a
recommended way of going about this such that I don't
lose any of my data (in my home directory)?

Thanks in advance,
Ed

=====
edmund l wong
assistant staff : mit lincoln lab 
cs/ece alumni : carnegie mellon

ewong at alumni.cmu.edu
http://www.edmundlwong.com

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