Ah hA!
Thanks all!
I'd have never found it without your help.
It's the tcl library system. In cutting,
pasting and mapping from etc/config.tcl to
my aols-cfg.tcl, I left out:
ns_section ns/server/${servername}/tcl
ns_param library ${pageroot}/tcl
Aolserver sources the files therein (in lex order)
and *that's* where the "default homepage" logic resides.
So, now when I firefix http://my.server:8080/ I get
the "OpenACS Installation: Welcome" page. The button
still doesn't work, but now I'm clue enabled.
Thanks again!
-sam
