Portinstall/upgrade stops with no error

[Doug Lee]

System: FreeBSD-STABLE (4.10).  Ports updated recently, but I've had
trouble with the database and probably never straightened it out.

Problem:  "portinstall lang/perl5.8" and other similar attempts to
install ports abort quietly.  With -v, I just see session started,
nothing installed or upgraded, session ended.  I can install any port
via make install though (perl is going in now thus).  I have run pkgdb
-fu, then pkgdb -F, then just in case, pkgdb -fu again; no change.
I've run make index several times, but not today (this is a P166, so
make index takes a while).

I think my ports database must be irreparably hosed, but I welcome
suggestions on how to salvage things. :-)

Please Cc me.


-- 
Doug Lee           dgl at dlee.org        http://www.dlee.org
Bartimaeus Group   doug at bartsite.com   http://www.bartsite.com
"The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them
to choose from." -- Andrew Tanenbaum