Problems running initdb on Linux

Name: Ralph Schwarten
Institution: Griffith University Queensland Australia
OS: Linux ver 2.0.32 Redhat release 5.0
Postgresql Ver 6.4.2

Problem:  The software compiles/installs without error however falls over when
we try and run initdb.

We have checked and re-checked permissions, paths and environment variables.
This is the error:

Amopen: relation pg_database. attrsize 61
initdb: could not log template database

The error returned at the command line is:

Running postgres -boot -C -F -D/usr/local/pgsql/data -Q template1
    syntax error 2305: parse error

The initdb script then falls over with:

Too large allocation request("!(0 < (size) && (size) <= (0xfffffff)):size=0 [0x0]", File: "mcxt.c, line: 232)
!(0 < (size && (size) <= (0xfffffff)) (0)

and then dumps core.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated as it is for a student project
for local industry.

Thanks

Ralph Schwarten
School of IT
Griffith University
Gold Coast
Australia.