problem with lost connection while running long PL/R query

Hi,

I have a query that uses a PL/R function to run a statistical model on
data in a postgresql table. The query runs the function 4 times, each
of which generates about 2 million lines of results, generating a final
table that has about 8 million lines. Each time the function is called,
it takes about ~3-5 minutes to finish its work. I know that the function
is running fine as it gives me progress and I have had no trouble using
it on slightly smaller datasets. However, this time it does the 4 runs,
but ends with psql saying the connection to the server has been lost.
In the postgresql log file, I have:

2013-05-16 14:05:47 CEST LOG: server process (PID 27488) was terminated by signal 9: Killed

2013-05-16 14:05:47 CEST LOG: terminating any other active server processes

2013-05-16 14:05:47 CEST WARNING: terminating connection because of crash of another server process

2013-05-16 14:05:47 CEST DETAIL: The postmaster has commanded this server process to roll back the current transaction and exit, because another server process exited abnormally and possibly corrupted shared memory

The process ID it mentions is the postgresql query process:

postgres 27488 87.1 26.1 2272848 2101804 ? Rs 13:44 1:01 postgres: dkaplan fads [local] SELECT

Does anyone know what might be causing this problem and how to fix it?
Is something timing out? Or is it a memory problem? How would I go
about getting more diagnostic information?

Thanks for the help,
David

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David M. Kaplan
Charge de Recherche 1

Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement
Centre de Recherche Halieutique Mediterraneenne et Tropicale
av. Jean Monnet
B.P. 171
34203 Sete cedex
France

Phone: +33 (0)4 99 57 32 27
Fax: +33 (0)4 99 57 32 95

http://www.umr-eme.org/team/dkaplan/
http://www.amped.ird.fr/
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