core dump on psql invoke

Hi,

having had a few teething troubles up to this point, i now have a nearly
running implementation apart from these problems :-

1) invoking postmaster -i from the command line as in the docs does not give
me back a prompt. Never mind, i can logon again, or CTRL-C the shell and
leave the process running, or invoke it next time into the background.

2) once postmaster is running, i can telnet to the server, so i know it is
running however, invoking psql causes the process to core dump. My guess
would be that if i get a connection, the same thing would happen.

- try as in the docs

% psql
FATAL 1:  Database postgres does not exist in pg_database
Connection to database 'postgres' failed.
FATAL 1:  Database postgres does not exist in pg_database

- okay, default database name is postgres, so try with template1

% psql template1
Connection to database 'template1' failed.
pqReadData() -- backend closed the channel unexpectedly.
        This probably means the backend terminated abnormally before or
while processing the request.

- okay, this is what i get

% ls -l
total 416
-rw-------  1 postgres  dba  417792 Dec 14 14:58 postgres.core
[1]  + Bad system call        postmaster (core dumped)

3) am in the process of trying the perl stuff, as that is how i will be
using it, but if psql doesn't work, what are my chances ?

I can send the coredump if anyone wants it.

I am using FreeBSD 2.2.6-RELEASE on P200 with 64Mb, with PGSQL 6.4

If you require any more information, please let me know.
If i can verify your attachment to the project, then i may allow telnet
access to the server directly for you.

Will try any sensible options, including re-install if needed.

Craig Stratton.