Received: from makus.postgresql.org (makus.postgresql.org [98.129.198.125]) by mail.postgresql.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B88AE1539070 for ; Wed, 13 Jun 2012 14:27:19 -0300 (ADT) Received: from sss.pgh.pa.us ([66.207.139.130]) by makus.postgresql.org with esmtp (Exim 4.72) (envelope-from ) id 1SerLR-0007ZU-Aq for pgsql-admin@postgresql.org; Wed, 13 Jun 2012 17:27:19 +0000 Received: from sss2.sss.pgh.pa.us (tgl@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by sss.pgh.pa.us (8.14.5/8.14.5) with ESMTP id q5DHHxXq013099; Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:17:59 -0400 (EDT) From: Tom Lane To: Chander Ganesan cc: pgsql-admin@postgresql.org Subject: Re: Out of memory errors on pg_dump In-reply-to: <4FD8C2D4.8080108@gmail.com> References: <4FD8C2D4.8080108@gmail.com> Comments: In-reply-to Chander Ganesan message dated "Wed, 13 Jun 2012 12:41:56 -0400" Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:17:59 -0400 Message-ID: <13098.1339607879@sss.pgh.pa.us> X-Pg-Spam-Score: -1.9 (-) X-Archive-Number: 201206/72 X-Sequence-Number: 39663 Chander Ganesan writes: > I get this whenever I try to do a pg_dump. Curiously, if I *decrease* > shared buffers waaaay down, I find that these errors go away. 32-bit machine no doubt? There's a limit to how big a datum can be slung around in a 32-bit address space, and it's not very many tens of megabytes if you've got shared_buffers eating a large chunk of that address space. regards, tom lane