This message appeared from the backend when running vacuum 
analyze on our live data. I remember seeing a posting 
regarding this sometime back but no longer have this message. 

The version of postgres is 6.5.1 on RH6. There is more than 
sufficient disk space left, and postmaster does not seem
to be running out of memory.

Any help would be much appreciated.
 
--------
Regards
Theo

Sat, 13 Nov 1999 23:17:21 +0200
Theo Kramer <theo@flame.co.za>
My bits moved right off the end of the world...
I recall that this was due to a corrupted B-Tree index. Try dropping and
rebuilding that, if you have one.

I also recall that Bruce, this being his "favourite error message", wanted
to make it "show it more often", so perhaps it now comes up in different
situations as well. ;)

	-Peter

On Sat, 13 Nov 1999, Theo Kramer wrote:

> This message appeared from the backend when running vacuum 
> analyze on our live data. I remember seeing a posting 
> regarding this sometime back but no longer have this message. 
> 
> The version of postgres is 6.5.1 on RH6. There is more than 
> sufficient disk space left, and postmaster does not seem
> to be running out of memory.
> 
> Any help would be much appreciated.
>  
> --------
> Regards
> Theo
> 
> ************
> 
> 

-- 
Peter Eisentraut                  Sernanders vaeg 10:115
peter_e@gmx.net                   75262 Uppsala
http://yi.org/peter-e/            Sweden


Sat, 13 Nov 1999 22:25:55 +0100 (MET)
Peter Eisentraut <e99re41@DoCS.UU.SE>
Re: [HACKERS] My bits moved right off the end of the world...
> I recall that this was due to a corrupted B-Tree index. Try dropping and
> rebuilding that, if you have one.
> 
> I also recall that Bruce, this being his "favourite error message", wanted
> to make it "show it more often", so perhaps it now comes up in different
> situations as well. ;)

That's still on my TODO list.  :-)

-- 
  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://www.op.net/~candle
  maillist@candle.pha.pa.us            |  (610) 853-3000
  +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  830 Blythe Avenue
  +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026

Sat, 13 Nov 1999 17:19:06 -0500 (EST)
Bruce Momjian <maillist@candle.pha.pa.us>
Re: [HACKERS] My bits moved right off the end of the world...
Peter Eisentraut wrote:
> 
> I recall that this was due to a corrupted B-Tree index. Try dropping and
> rebuilding that, if you have one.

Thanks Peter, that did the trick.

Any chance of adding the following to the FAQ

4.24) What is the meaning of 'my bits moved right off the end of the world'

This message may appear in the backend log and may be due to a possibly 
corrupt index. 

It may be preceded (by several minutes) with a notice to the client such as 

NOTICE:  Index my_idx: NUMBER OF INDEX' TUPLES (78933) IS NOT THE SAME AS HEAP
(78931)

The message may occur when running a 'vacuum analyze' with the backend
terminating abnormally.

[Other explanations...]

The postmaster must be started without the '-S' option for this
notice to appear.

--------
Regards
Theo

Sun, 14 Nov 1999 08:19:22 +0200
Theo Kramer <theo@flame.co.za>
Re: [HACKERS] My bits moved right off the end of the world...
> Peter Eisentraut wrote:
> > 
> > I recall that this was due to a corrupted B-Tree index. Try dropping and
> > rebuilding that, if you have one.
> 
> Thanks Peter, that did the trick.
> 
> Any chance of adding the following to the FAQ
> 
> 4.24) What is the meaning of 'my bits moved right off the end of the world'

With specific messages like this one, it is best to put the fix right in
the error message.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://www.op.net/~candle
  maillist@candle.pha.pa.us            |  (610) 853-3000
  +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  830 Blythe Avenue
  +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026

Sun, 14 Nov 1999 10:52:33 -0500 (EST)
Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us>
Re: [HACKERS] My bits moved right off the end of the world...
> > Peter Eisentraut wrote:
> > > 
> > > I recall that this was due to a corrupted B-Tree index. Try dropping and
> > > rebuilding that, if you have one.
> > 
> > Thanks Peter, that did the trick.
> > 
> > Any chance of adding the following to the FAQ
> > 
> > 4.24) What is the meaning of 'my bits moved right off the end of the world'
> 
> With specific messages like this one, it is best to put the fix right in
> the error message.

With great pain, I have added an additional sentence to the error
message stating to try and recreate index.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://www.op.net/~candle
  maillist@candle.pha.pa.us            |  (610) 853-3000
  +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  830 Blythe Avenue
  +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026

Sun, 14 Nov 1999 11:19:02 -0500 (EST)
Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us>
Re: [HACKERS] My bits moved right off the end of the world...
> Peter Eisentraut wrote:
> > 
> > I recall that this was due to a corrupted B-Tree index. Try dropping and
> > rebuilding that, if you have one.
> 
> Thanks Peter, that did the trick.
> 
> Any chance of adding the following to the FAQ
> 
> 4.24) What is the meaning of 'my bits moved right off the end of the world'
> 
> This message may appear in the backend log and may be due to a possibly 
> corrupt index. 
> 
> It may be preceded (by several minutes) with a notice to the client such as 
> 
> NOTICE:  Index my_idx: NUMBER OF INDEX' TUPLES (78933) IS NOT THE SAME AS HEAP
> (78931)

I have added a mention when this message appears to try recreating the
index.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://www.op.net/~candle
  maillist@candle.pha.pa.us            |  (610) 853-3000
  +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  830 Blythe Avenue
  +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026

Sun, 14 Nov 1999 12:24:18 -0500 (EST)
Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us>
Re: [HACKERS] My bits moved right off the end of the world...