Trouble starting automounter

[Dikran Kassabian]

I'm interested in using the automounter, but have run into some troubles.
Perhaps some of you have seen this, and can tell me what I'm doing wrong.

If I try to start the automounter from rc.local like this:

| if [ -f /usr/etc/automount ]; then
| 	automount /Net/home      /etc/auto-home
| 	automount /Net/var/spool /etc/auto-var
| 	(echo -n ' automount')>/dev/console
| fi

all works well.  The indirect maps indicated are used and things are
dandy.  If I try to use a direct map, and a master map, like this:

| if [ -f /usr/etc/automount -a -f /etc/auto.master ]; then
| 	# /usr/etc/automount -M /Net -f /etc/auto.master
| 	/usr/etc/automount -f /etc/auto.master
| 	(echo -n ' automount')>/dev/console
| fi

where auto.master contains a single line like this:

| /-    auto.direct

and  auto.direct contains this:

| /home/host1            -rw,hard,intr              host1:/home/host1      
| /home/host2            -rw,hard,intr              host2:/home/host2      
| /var/spool/mail        -rw,hard,intr              host3:/var/spool/mail 
| /usr/lib/news          -ro,soft                   host3:/usr/lib/news   
| /var/spool/news        -ro,soft                   host3:/var/spool/news 

the daemon fails to start from rc.local (or rather, it does not exist in
the process table once the system is fully up with root logged in).  But
if I allow the system to boot, and then once logged in as root I type from
a csh

hostname# /usr/etc/automount -f /etc/auto.master

things work just fine.   The automounter works as I would expect at this
point (leading me to believe that my maps are okay and that the command
line is formatted okay). What is the important difference here?  I have
tried using a bourne shell to start the daemon, I have tried booting up
single user and starting the daemon from there.  Nothing works.

Details:  all systems are sun3 arch and running SunOS 4.0.3.  We use
yellow-pages, but do not use a yp-based auto.master.  portmap and ypbind
are up before automounter tries to start.

Has anybody encountered this before?  I welcome any suggestions.  Please
reply by email.  I'll summarize if there's anough interest.

      ^Deke Kassabian,   deke at ee.rochester.edu   or   ur-valhalla!deke
   Univ of Rochester, Dept of EE, Rochester, NY 14627     (+1 716-275-3106)