memory leak while using vaccum

I am running a PostgreSQL 7.1.3 on a Intel Pentium III
My operating system is SuSE Linux 7.1 with Kernel 2.4.4 (ELF)
I compiled postgresql with gcc 2.95.2

My problem:
when using "vacuum analyze <tablename>" on very large tables (I have one
with about 30GB) the memory usage increases continues until no memory is
left and the kernel stops this process.

I suppose this problem is easy to reproduce. Just create a table like
this:

Table "wa_cube"
Attribute | Type | Modifier
-----------+---------------+----------
dim1 | numeric(38,0) |
dim2 | numeric(38,0) |
dim3 | numeric(38,0) |
dim4 | numeric(38,0) |
dim5 | numeric(38,0) |
lvkumsatz | numeric(14,3) |
vkumsatz | numeric(14,3) |
ekumsatz | numeric(14,3) |
menge | numeric(14,3) |
Index: wa_cube_idx

fill very much data into it, then create an index like this:

Index "wa_cube_idx"
Attribute | Type
-----------+---------------
dim1 | numeric(38,0)
dim2 | numeric(38,0)
dim3 | numeric(38,0)
dim4 | numeric(38,0)
btree

and run: vacuum anayze <table>

greetings,
Achim Kruemmel