/bin/uname not working so portage is snookered

[Canuck]

Hi all, hope someone has some suggestions.

I've been unable to update for a while now. I can 'emerge rsync' just fine but when I try to run an ebuild it craters due to an inability to determine system type - ie: /bin/uname isn't working anymore.

Here's the output.
=========

bart root # emerge -uD world
Calculating world dependencies ...done!
>>> emerge (1 of 53) sys-libs/db-4.0.14-r2 to /
>>> md5 src_uri db-4.0.14.tar.gz
>>> Unpacking source...
>>> Unpacking db-4.0.14.tar.gz to /var/tmp/portage/db-4.0.14-r2/work
* Applying db-4.0.14-fix-dep-link.patch... [ ok ]
>>> Source unpacked.
checking build system type... ../dist/config.guess: unable to guess system type

This script, last modified 2001-09-13, has failed to recognize
the operating system you are using. It is advised that you
download the most up to date version of the config scripts from

ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/config/

If the version you run (../dist/config.guess) is already up to date, please
send the following data and any information you think might be
pertinent to <config-patches@gnu.org> in order to provide the needed
information to handle your system.

config.guess timestamp = 2001-09-13

uname -m = unknown
uname -r = unknown
uname -s = unknown
uname -v = unknown

/usr/bin/uname -p =
/bin/uname -X =

hostinfo =
/bin/universe =
/usr/bin/arch -k =
/bin/arch = i686
/usr/bin/oslevel =
/usr/convex/getsysinfo =

UNAME_MACHINE = unknown
UNAME_RELEASE = unknown
UNAME_SYSTEM = unknown
UNAME_VERSION = unknown
configure: error: cannot guess build type; you must specify one

!!! ERROR: sys-libs/db-4.0.14-r2 failed.
!!! Function src_compile, Line 73, Exitcode 1
!!! (no error message)
==========

Here's some relevant output:

bart root # uname
bash: /bin/uname: cannot execute binary file
bart root # ls -l /bin/uname
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 15232 Aug 27 21:59 /bin/uname
bart root #
==========

In the past I was getting some random window closing in X as well as a filesystem error on my reiserfs but I did a 'reiserfsck --rebuild-tree' and it cleaned up nicely. The system seems stable now after I replaced a TV tuner card that was going the way of all things cheap and easy.

Any suggestions?

[delta407]

[Canuck]

Well, I emerged coreutils successfully and unmerged three other packages that it superceded. All is now well and my machine will be grinding through the backlog of 50-some packages to update.

One question though. I got an emerge message about coreutils replacing a package but it didn't remove the package on its own. Any particular reason for this?

Thanks for the succinct assistance!

Tom

[delta407]