Getting a "pg_dump error: sanity check failed!"

Your name        :    Tucker Sylvestro
Your email address    :       tsyl1@mit.edu


System Configuration
- ---------------------
  Architecture (example: Intel Pentium)      : AMD K6-2

  Operating System (example: Linux 2.0.26 ELF)     : Red Hat Linux 6.0, 2.2.5-15

  PostgreSQL version (example: PostgreSQL-6.5.2): PostgreSQL-6.5.2

  Compiler used (example:  gcc 2.8.0)        : gcc version egcs-2.91.66 19990314/Linux (egcs-1.1.2 release)


Please enter a FULL description of your problem:
- ------------------------------------------------

I am getting an error when I try and use pg_dump.  I have two very simple
tables which I can access through both psql and perl scripts using
DBD::Pg.  However, when I run pg_dump auto >out.txt, I get the message:
'failed sanity check, table customers was not found'

Another oddity I just discovered is that from psql, doing a '\d' tells me
I have no tables!

auto=> \d
Couldn't find any tables, sequences or indices!

However, I can do:

auto=> select cid, numorders, approved from customers;
cid|numorders|approved
- - ---+---------+--------
  1|        1|t
  2|        2|t
  3|        1|t
  4|        3|f
.
.
.

Something really seems to be off internally; it's funny to see this:

auto=> \dt
Couldn't find any tables!
auto=> select orderid, date, site, filled from orders where orderid = 355;
orderid|date                  |site|filled
- -------+----------------------+----+------
    355|1999-10-31 14:16:46-05|   1|t
(1 row)

Am I creating the tables wrong?  Why does psql and pg_dump not find
the tables even though I can access them?  The way I create them is
with the following lines from a perl script:

$dbh->do('CREATE TABLE customers ('.
         'cID         serial,'.
         'numOrders   int4 default 1,'.
         'lastFilled  bool,'.
         'approved    bool default false,'.
         'fName       text,'.
         'lName       text,'.
         'phone       text,'.
         'evePhone    text,'.
         'email       text,'.
         'comment     text,'.
         'address     text)');

where $dbh is:

$dbh = DBI->connect("dbi:Pg:dbname=auto", "", "") or die $DBI::errstr;

Thanks for the help, I really need this to work to be able to back up the
database.





Please describe a way to repeat the problem.   Please try to provide a
concise reproducible example, if at all possible:
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Any time I run 'pg_dump' this error occurs.


If you know how this problem might be fixed, list the solution below:
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------

I currently have not found a fix or workaround.