BUG #5723: Can not start postgres after install

The following bug has been logged online:

Bug reference: 5723
Logged by: Marcus
Email address: marcusbooster(at)mailinator(dot)com
PostgreSQL version: 9.0.1
Operating system: Ubuntu 10.10
Description: Can not start postgres after install
Details:

A user installing from source to a local directory.
Builds and installs fine, but panics when starting the server.

uname -a:
Linux myname 2.6.35-22-server #35-Ubuntu SMP Sat Oct 16 22:02:33 UTC 2010
x86_64 GNU/Linux
Tried on ext3 and ext4 filesystems.

./configure --prefix=$HOME/opt/postgres
... (good)
./make && make install
... (good)

$HOME/opt/postgresql/bin/pg_ctl -D $HOME/var/pgsql/data start
server starting
LOG: database system was shut down at 2010-10-25 01:09:49 EDT
PANIC: could not open file "pg_xlog/000000010000000000000000" (log file 0,
segment 0): Invalid argument
LOG: startup process (PID 5010) was terminated by signal 6: Aborted
LOG: aborting startup due to startup process failure