More information about this problem:

Looking more closely in /tmp/amanda/sendsize...debug, I see
something strange:

sendsize[7578]: time 0.020: calculating for amname '/', dirname '/',
spindle -1
sendsize[7578]: time 0.020: getting size via dump for / level 0
sendsize[7578]: time 0.020: calculating for device '/' with ''
sendsize[7578]: time 0.022: running "/bin/dump 0Esf 1048576 - /"
sendsize[7578]: time 0.023: running /usr/local/libexec/killpgrp
sendsize[7578]: time 0.137: Usage: dump [-?CDVcgl -L[v] -a[v] -f[v]
-h[dnv] -o[v] -r[dnv] -s[dnv] -t[nv] -T index1[, index2]] file(s)
...
sendsize[7578]: time 0.138: .....
sendsize[7578]: estimate time for / level 0: 0.116
sendsize[7578]: no size line match in /bin/dump output for "/"
sendsize[7578]: .....
sendsize[7578]: estimate size for / level 0: -1 KB
sendsize[7578]: time 0.138: asking killpgrp to terminate
sendsize[7578]: time 1.149: done with amname '/', dirname '/',
spindle -1

Notice line 6 "Usage: " message. Perhaps dump is not acting the way
amanda expects? Is this my problem? I had trouble getting gnu tar to
compile, but maybe I should try again so I can use it instead of
dump.

-- 
Kurt Yoder
Sport & Health network administrator