BUG #4208: Server crashes on insert into gist index

The following bug has been logged online:

Bug reference: 4208
Logged by: Ron Mackley
Email address: ronm(at)signalpatterns(dot)com
PostgreSQL version: 8.2.6
Operating system: Linux {hostname removed} 2.6.18-53.1.13.el5 #1 SMP Mon
Feb 11 13:27:27 EST 2008 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Description: Server crashes on insert into gist index
Details:

We've been seeing infrequent crashes of the postgres. This is version 8.2.6
running on Red Hat Enterprise 5.1 on x64 using redhat issued RPMs.

We captured a core file and here is the stack trace:

(gdb) bt
#0 0x0000000000615b5a in pfree (pointer=0x2aaaccaff318) at mcxt.c:585
#1 0x00002aaace72ab59 in cube_inter (fcinfo=0x7fff102205f0) at cube.c:898
#2 0x0000000000602b14 in DirectFunctionCall2 (func=0x2aaace72aa00
<cube_inter>, arg1=46913066890008, arg2=5) at fmgr.c:888
#3 0x00002aaace72a73b in g_cube_picksplit (fcinfo=<value optimized out>) at
cube.c:571
#4 0x000000000060224f in FunctionCall2 (flinfo=0x2aaaccaff318,
arg1=46913066890008, arg2=5) at fmgr.c:1162
#5 0x000000000044d6e6 in gistSplitByKey (r=0x2aaace6b6d40,
page=0x2aaaccafe8a0 "\017", itup=0x3628200, len=83,
giststate=0x7fff10221800, v=0x7fff10221420,
entryvec=0x36269e0, attno=0) at gistsplit.c:306
#6 0x0000000000444b15 in gistSplit (r=0x2aaace6b6d40, page=0x2aaaccafe8a0
"\017", itup=0x3628200, len=83, giststate=0x7fff10221800) at gist.c:943
#7 0x00000000004454ff in gistmakedeal (state=0x7fff10221780,
giststate=0x7fff10221800) at gist.c:329
#8 0x0000000000445d4b in gistdoinsert (r=0x2aaace6b6d40, itup=0x362aa90,
freespace=0, giststate=0x7fff10221800) at gist.c:278
#9 0x0000000000446115 in gistinsert (fcinfo=<value optimized out>) at
gist.c:242
#10 0x0000000000601eec in FunctionCall6 (flinfo=0x75000,
arg1=46913066890008, arg2=5, arg3=5, arg4=0, arg5=4, arg6=0) at fmgr.c:1275
#11 0x000000000045a03f in index_insert (indexRelation=0x2aaace6b6d40,
values=0x7fff10223f90, isnull=0x7fff10224090 "", heap_t_ctid=0x360256c,
heapRelation=0x2aaace6af020, check_uniqueness=0 '\0') at indexam.c:196
#12 0x00000000005082bf in ExecInsertIndexTuples (slot=0x36011b8,
tupleid=0x360256c, estate=0x3600d10, is_vacuum=0 '\0') at execUtils.c:1116
#13 0x00000000005006f1 in ExecutorRun (queryDesc=<value optimized out>,
direction=<value optimized out>, count=0) at execMain.c:1401
#14 0x00000000005880d7 in ProcessQuery (parsetree=<value optimized out>,
plan=0x35b2ff8, params=0x0, dest=0x35b36d0, completionTag=0x7fff10224440 "")
at pquery.c:157
#15 0x0000000000588311 in PortalRunMulti (portal=0x35f63e0, dest=0x35b36d0,
altdest=0x35b36d0, completionTag=0x7fff10224440 "") at pquery.c:1150
#16 0x0000000000588b74 in PortalRun (portal=0x35f63e0,
count=9223372036854775807, dest=0x35b36d0, altdest=0x35b36d0,
completionTag=0x7fff10224440 "") at pquery.c:700
#17 0x0000000000584a9f in exec_simple_query (
query_string=0x35b2650 "INSERT INTO user_attribute_vectors
(\"client_id\", \"survey_id\", \"user_id\", \"attribute_vector\") VALUES(1,
1, 9180,
E'(0.924332429795696,0.568812924744321,0.568812924744321,-0.599309532325997,
-1.462648746"...) at postgres.c:939
#18 0x0000000000585f22 in PostgresMain (argc=4, argv=<value optimized out>,
username=0x35396f0 "signalmatch-production") at postgres.c:3424
#19 0x000000000055f1c7 in ServerLoop () at postmaster.c:2934
#20 0x000000000055fdda in PostmasterMain (argc=5, argv=0x3519bb0) at
postmaster.c:966
#21 0x00000000005208e3 in main (argc=5, argv=<value optimized out>) at
main.c:188
(gdb)

And more information about the table:
sp_hub_production=# select count(*) from user_attribute_vectors;
count
-------
6057
(1 row)

sp_hub_production=# \d user_attribute_vectors
Table "public.user_attribute_vectors"
Column | Type | Modifiers

------------------+---------+-----------------------------------------------
----------------------
id | integer | not null default
nextval('user_attribute_vectors_id_seq'::regclass)
user_id | integer |
client_id | integer |
survey_id | integer |
attribute_vector | cube |
Indexes:
"user_attribute_vectors_pkey" PRIMARY KEY, btree (id)
"index_user_attribute_vectors_on_attribute_vector_gist" gist
(attribute_vector)
"index_user_attribute_vectors_on_user_id" btree (user_id)