diff -ruN ../base/src/backend/access/nbtree/nbtree.c src/backend/access/nbtree/nbtree.c
--- ../base/src/backend/access/nbtree/nbtree.c	2002-06-21 02:12:14.000000000 +0200
+++ src/backend/access/nbtree/nbtree.c	2002-08-30 11:44:35.000000000 +0200
@@ -615,6 +615,7 @@
 	{
 		Buffer		buf;
 		BlockNumber lockedBlock = InvalidBlockNumber;
+		bool		dirty = false;
 
 		/* we have the buffer pinned and locked */
 		buf = so->btso_curbuf;
@@ -662,14 +663,19 @@
 					LockBuffer(buf, BUFFER_LOCK_UNLOCK);
 					LockBufferForCleanup(buf);
 					lockedBlock = blkno;
+					dirty = false;
 				}
 				else
 				{
 					/* Okay to delete the item from the page */
 					_bt_itemdel(rel, buf, current);
 
-					/* Mark buffer dirty, but keep the lock and pin */
-					WriteNoReleaseBuffer(buf);
+					if (!dirty)
+					{
+						/* Mark buffer dirty, but keep the lock and pin */
+						WriteNoReleaseBuffer(buf);
+						dirty = true;
+					}
 
 					tuples_removed += 1;
 				}