How can I edit text in a dumb terminal

B

bsdolith

Hi,

I have just installed Gnome desktop on my laptop. When I was editing the /etc/rc.conf file to start GDM automatically I made a typo error like this:

Code: 
gdm_enable=YES"
(I forgot to type in ")

Now when I reboot the booting process stops when the computer tries to mount root from ufs:/dev/ada0p2.

I get the option to start a shell but while doing so the shell cannot open /etc/termcap and uses dumb terminal settings.

My problem is that I do not know how to edit /etc/rc.conf in this shell. I cannot open vi or getty or any other editor. However, I can cat rc.conf so that I can see my typo.

How can I go in and edit /etc/rc.conf? Should I use an editor I don't know of or can I use the Live CD?

Any help at all is very appreciated!
 
Could you choose a single user mode during booting time? You can mount /usr partition
# mount -a -t ufs
and use vi to edit /etc/rc.conf.
 
Hi,

I followed this link:

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO...CCONF-READONLY

and these instructions:

Restart the system using boot -s at the loader prompt to enter Single User mode. When prompted for a shell pathname, simply press Enter, and run mount -urw / to re-mount the root file system in read/write mode. You may also need to run mount -a -t ufs to mount the file system where your favorite editor is defined.

That solved the problem for me (: Thanks for your help!
 
Usually setting the correct environment variable (TERM) fixes this situation. But there's another nice way to fix it.

As you said you made a typo and have

Code: 
gdm_enable=YES"

in /etc/rc.conf. If / is mounted read-write, you could do:

# printf "/^gdm_enable/s/.*/gdm_enable=\"YES\"/\nw\nq" | ed -s /etc/rc.conf

and modify the file with ed editor. If all goes OK, file is modified silently.
 
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