Root logins under failure conditions

[Peter Jeremy]

I have a system where /usr/local is on a different filesystem to / & /usr.
On a number of occasions, I have had /usr/local lockup and block root
logins - which means a hard reset with no possibility to troubleshoot.

I've tried ktrace'ing login sequences and the only access to /usr/local is
a result of login(8) or sshd(8) using pam(2) and nsdispatch(3) - both of
which search /usr/local - the former looking for /usr/local/etc/pam.conf
and /usr/local/etc/pam.d/system, and the latter searching for
nss_{files,dns}.so.1 along the paths in ld-elf.so.hints.  These files are
all optional and (at least for me) don't exist.

The problem only occurs when /usr/local is mounted and not responding.  If
it's not mounted then everything errors out and all is well.

Can anyone offer a simple solution so that at least root logins don't
need to unnecessarily access /usr/local?

-- 
Peter Jeremy
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