Richard Huxton <dev(at)archonet(dot)com> writes:
> You might want to try vm.overcommit_memory=1. You don't appear to be the
> only one suffering from an over-zealous oom-killer.
> http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0501.2/1295.html
Hmm, in particular Andrea Arcangeli implies here
http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0501.2/1358.html
that there are some pretty serious bugs in this area in 2.6.10.
So the answer is you need a different kernel version.
regards, tom lane