cannot serve nfs

[Joseph A Borg <jacborg_(_at_)_mac_(_dot_)_com>]

I've been trying to serve an NFS export without success. Tried the faq 
(pretty simple right?!) but if I do showmount -a localhost I get 
nothing showing, so if I try to mount from another machine I get the 
royal refusal...

if anybody can give me a clue as to where to look for 
breakages/conflicts etc...

I have a GENERIC i386 kernel with GRE removed, the machine is (finally) 
doing pptp on ADSL and pf is up.

ps -aux gives me:

root      2926  0.0  0.2    72   280 ??  Is     4:32PM    0:00.01 
portmap
root     31482  0.0  0.2   360   216 ??  Is     4:32PM    0:00.01 mountd
root     27925  0.0  0.1   124   112 ??  Is     4:32PM    0:00.00 nfsd: 
master (nfsd)
root     26035  0.0  0.1   108    80 ??  IL     4:32PM    0:00.00 nfsd: 
server (nfsd)
root     23227  0.0  0.1   108    80 ??  IL     4:32PM    0:00.00 nfsd: 
server (nfsd)
root     19320  0.0  0.1   108    80 ??  IL     4:32PM    0:00.00 nfsd: 
server (nfsd)
root     10815  0.0  0.1   108    80 ??  IL     4:32PM    0:00.00 nfsd: 
server (nfsd)
root     15774  0.0  0.1   108    80 ??  IL     7:01PM    0:00.00 nfsd: 
server (nfsd)
root     29603  0.0  0.1   108    80 ??  IL     7:01PM    0:00.00 nfsd: 
server (nfsd)
root     15564  0.0  0.1   108    80 ??  IL     7:01PM    0:00.00 nfsd: 
server (nfsd)
root     18727  0.0  0.1   108    80 ??  IL     7:01PM    0:00.00 nfsd: 
server (nfsd)
root     26015  0.0  0.1   108    80 ??  IL     7:01PM    0:00.00 nfsd: 
server (nfsd)
root       352  0.0  0.1   108    88 ??  IL     7:01PM    0:00.00 nfsd: 
server (nfsd)
root     26640  0.0  0.1   108    88 ??  IL     7:02PM    0:00.00 nfsd: 
server (nfsd)
root     26716  0.0  0.1   108    88 ??  IL     7:02PM    0:00.00 nfsd: 
server (nfsd)
root     25047  0.0  0.1   108    88 ??  IL     7:02PM    0:00.00 nfsd: 
server (nfsd)
root     27526  0.0  0.1   108    88 ??  IL     7:02PM    0:00.00 nfsd: 
server (nfsd)
root     26543  0.0  0.1   108    88 ??  IL     7:02PM    0:00.00 nfsd: 
server (nfsd)
root     24288  0.0  0.1   108    88 ??  IL     7:02PM    0:00.00 nfsd: 
server (nfsd)

tried launching rpc.lockd oncve as well... some of those nfsd's where 
launched manually...

If you got till here, please allow me a rant in frustration: I bought a 
couple of unix related books (generic unfortunately) scoured the web 
but it is damned difficult to get a holistic view of features and 
services... there are either howto's that explain the simple issues 
over and over again or cryptic man pages that enter into the finest 
detail of every switch, but fail to give you a clear picture of where 
the utility fits in the OS or any diagnostic feedbacks that are 
understandable by somebody stepping out of the novice pond... I hope 
I'm wrong and somebody would point me to the perfect oracle together 
with a jibe at my lack of searching prowess ;-)