[ns] HELP!!

[Ishan Mandrekar <ishan@io.ece.drexel.edu>]

Hi every1,

I'm new to NS and tried installing it from the all-in-one package. The install 
script ran fine (atleast it didn't pop any error messages) and all the 
components got installed. Now when I try to run a simple test script (the very 
first one in Marc Greis' tutorial), I get the following error message:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
: no value given for parameter "text" to "checkout_executable"
    while executing
"checkout_executable PERL  perl "\
When configured, ns found the right version of perl in\

but it doesn't seem to be there anymore, so\
ns will fall b..."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This message is preceeded by a lot of screens scrolling.
I tried to run "validate" after I finished installing, but it kept running for 
more than 45 minutes. Thinking that it's gone into a loop, I aborted midway.

I would like to know whether I have stuff installed properly, or do u guys feel 
that its giving problems coz the installation process was not terminated in a 
proper fashion.

What's a sure fire way to check whether I have NS installed correctly?

Would appreciate ur comments/suggestions

Thanks,
Ishan.