Port Bug Report: Spin locks work intermittently on AlphaLinux

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POSTGRESQL BUG REPORT TEMPLATE
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Your name : Rich Edwards
Your email address : edwardr(at)codonics(dot)com

Category : runtime: back-end
Severity : critical

Summary: Spin locks work intermittently on AlphaLinux

System Configuration
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Operating System : RedHat v5.2 Linux v2.0.35 (glibc 2.0.7-19)

PostgreSQL version : 6.4.2

Compiler used : egcs v1.1.1

Hardware:
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DEC Alpha 21164 (from Aspen Systems), 128M RAM
uname -a: Linux garcia 2.0.35 #2 Wed Nov 11 12:15:07 EST 1998 alpha unknown

Versions of other tools:
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GNU Make version 3.76.1
flex version 2.5.4

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Problem Description:
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I was able to compile everything, and eventually init the database.
However, during 'initdb', and in subsequent regression tests, I kept
getting the following error:

FATAL: s_lock(5556c120) at spin.c:114, stuck spinlock. Aborting.

This appeared to be the cause for some of the regression test
failures, though not for all of them.

Here are the contents of the regress.out file:

=============== Notes... =================
postmaster must already be running for the regression tests to succeed.
The time zone is now set to PST8PDT explicitly by this regression test
client frontend. Please report any apparent problems to
ports(at)postgresql(dot)org
See regress/README for more information.

=============== destroying old regression database... =================
ERROR: destroydb: database 'regression' does not exist
destroydb: database destroy failed on regression.
=============== creating new regression database... =================
=============== running regression queries... =================
boolean .. ok
char .. ok
name .. ok
varchar .. ok
text .. ok
strings .. ok
int2 .. failed
int4 .. failed
int8 .. ok
oid .. failed
float4 .. failed
float8 .. failed
numerology .. failed
point .. failed
lseg .. ok
box .. ok
path .. ok
polygon .. ok
circle .. ok
geometry .. failed
timespan .. ok
datetime .. failed
reltime .. failed
abstime .. failed
tinterval .. failed
horology .. failed
inet .. failed
comments .. ok
opr_sanity .. failed
create_function_1 .. ok
create_type .. ok
create_table .. ok
create_function_2 .. ok
constraints .. ok
triggers .. ok
copy .. failed
create_misc .. failed
create_aggregate .. ok
create_operator .. ok
create_view .. failed
create_index .. failed
sanity_check .. failed
errors .. ok
select .. failed
select_into .. failed
select_distinct .. failed
select_distinct_on .. failed
select_implicit .. failed
select_having .. failed
subselect .. ok
union .. failed
aggregates .. failed
transactions .. ok
random .. failed
portals .. failed
misc .. failed
arrays .. failed
btree_index .. failed
hash_index .. failed
select_views .. failed
alter_table .. failed
portals_p2 .. failed
rules .. failed
install_plpgsql .. ok
plpgsql .. failed

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Test Case:
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Simply follow the INSTALL intsructions to build and install on
an AlphaLinux system, then try 'initdb', followed by running
the regression tests.

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Solution:
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