hung back end

i'm porting some apps from mysql to pgsql and i'm using php4.0.5-cvs with
phplib db classes. i'm starting to see that when ever i load a web page,
it starts a backend. then when i try to reload the page, i get:

---
Warning: Unable to connect to PostgreSQL server: Sorry, too many clients
already in /home/staffs/t/tom/public_html/phpweblog/include/db_pgsql.inc
on line 47
Database error: Link-ID == false, pconnect failed
PostgreSQL Error: 0 ()
Session halted.
---

sure i could increase the # of child processes, but instead i decided to
check why it was doing this. it appears that after a webpage is openned, a
new child process or backend starts. the persistent link doesn't seem to
exist any longer. on the next reload, a new process. but the old one never
disappeared. it'll sit there for hours and days.

# ps ax | grep post
16082 ?? I 0:00.09 postmaster: web mnwork [local] idle (postgres)
16149 ?? I 0:00.08 postmaster: web mnwork [local] idle (postgres)
16236 ?? I 0:00.67 postmaster: web mnwork [local] idle (postgres)
16407 ?? I 0:00.81 postmaster: web mnwork [local] idle (postgres)
16453 ?? I 0:00.57 postmaster: web mnwork [local] idle (postgres)
16519 ?? I 0:00.96 postmaster: web mnwork [local] idle (postgres)
16537 ?? I 0:00.76 postmaster: web mnwork [local] idle (postgres)
16902 ?? I 0:00.71 postmaster: web mnwork [local] idle (postgres)
16917 ?? I 0:00.58 postmaster: web mnwork [local] idle (postgres)
16936 ?? I 0:00.76 postmaster: web mnwork [local] idle (postgres)
16945 ?? I 0:00.91 postmaster: web mnwork [local] idle (postgres)
19854 ?? I 0:00.19 postmaster: web mnwork [local] idle (postgres)
19918 ?? I 0:00.14 postmaster: web mnwork [local] idle (postgres)
19929 ?? I 0:00.14 postmaster: web mnwork [local] idle (postgres)
19952 ?? I 0:00.13 postmaster: web mnwork [local] idle (postgres)
19969 ?? I 0:00.14 postmaster: web mnwork [local] idle (postgres)
20063 ?? I 0:00.34 postmaster: web mnwork [local] idle (postgres)
22681 ?? I 0:00.54 postmaster: web mnwork [local] idle (postgres)
22769 ?? I 0:00.18 postmaster: web mnwork [local] idle (postgres)
17591 p1- IN 77:23.76 postmaster: web mnwork [local] waiting (postgres)
17593 p1- IN 78:37.34 postmaster: web mnwork [local] waiting (postgres)
17595 p1- IN 76:35.68 postmaster: web mnwork [local] waiting (postgres)
26624 p1- SN 76:06.14 postmaster: web mnwork [local] SELECT (postgres)
26626 p1- SN 81:51.65 postmaster: web mnwork [local] SELECT (postgres)
26628 p1- IN 76:03.21 postmaster: web mnwork [local] waiting (postgres)
26630 p1- DN 80:10.06 postmaster: web mnwork [local] SELECT (postgres)
26636 p1- SN 78:51.12 postmaster: web mnwork [local] SELECT (postgres)
26638 p1- IN 77:10.42 postmaster: web mnwork [local] waiting (postgres)
26640 p1- RN 83:42.56 postmaster: web mnwork [local] SELECT (postgres)
26643 p1- SN 92:37.74 postmaster: web mnwork [local] SELECT (postgres)
27481 p1- I 0:05.57 /usr/local/bin/postmaster -D /var/pgsql/data
(postgres)
27694 p1- SN 82:09.49 postmaster: web mnwork [local] SELECT (postgres)
27697 p1- DN 76:27.96 postmaster: web mnwork [local] SELECT (postgres)