Thanks... I'm pretty sure now that what I was was pthreads/popy related. I didn't realize there was a new/updated PoPy/ZPoPyDA on the zope site with lots of thread related (sem_init, sem_wait,... ) changes so I built it on my FreeBSD boxen and haven't seen the same behavior since. -steve P.S. here are the changes I made to build on FreeBSD: diff -c -r1.1.1.1 -r1.2 *** PoPymodule.h 2000/12/03 14:06:38 1.1.1.1 --- PoPymodule.h 2000/12/03 14:09:57 1.2 *************** *** 38,43 **** --- 38,44 ---- #include <catalog/pg_type.h> #include <libpq-fe.h> #include <libpq/libpq-fs.h> + #include <sys/types.h> #include <regex.h> #include <string.h> #include <stdlib.h> and mercury.spvi.com> diff -c foop/pythonmods/PoPy/Makefile foo/pythonmods/PoPy/Makefile *** old/Makefile Sun Dec 3 18:06:58 2000 --- new/Makefile Sun Dec 3 09:43:00 2000 *************** *** 88,94 **** TARGET= python # Add more -I and -D options here ! CFLAGS= $(OPT) -I$(INCLUDEPY) -I$(LIBPL) $(DEFS) -I/usr/local/pgsql/include/ -Wall \ -DVERSION=\"1.4.1\" # These two variables can be set in Setup to merge extensions. --- 88,94 ---- TARGET= python # Add more -I and -D options here ! CFLAGS= $(OPT) -pthread -I$(INCLUDEPY) -I$(LIBPL) $(DEFS) -I/usr/local/pgsql/include -I/usr/ports/databases/postgresql7/work/postgresql-7.0.2/src/include -Wall \ -DVERSION=\"1.4.1\" # These two variables can be set in Setup to merge extensions. *************** *** 114,120 **** LINKCC= $(PURIFY) $(CC) SGI_ABI= OPT= -fomit-frame-pointer -O6 ! LDFLAGS= -L/usr/local/pgsql/lib/ LDLAST= DEFS= -DHAVE_CONFIG_H=1 -DHAVE_LIBCRYPT=1 LIBS= -lcrypt -lc_r --- 114,120 ---- LINKCC= $(PURIFY) $(CC) SGI_ABI= OPT= -fomit-frame-pointer -O6 ! LDFLAGS= -L/usr/local/pgsql/lib LDLAST= DEFS= -DHAVE_CONFIG_H=1 -DHAVE_LIBCRYPT=1 LIBS= -lcrypt -lc_r *************** *** 123,129 **** RANLIB= ranlib MACHDEP= freebsd3 SO= .so ! LDSHARED= gcc -shared CCSHARED= -fpic LINKFORSHARED= -Xlinker -export-dynamic --- 123,129 ---- RANLIB= ranlib MACHDEP= freebsd3 SO= .so ! LDSHARED= gcc -shared -fpic -pthread CCSHARED= -fpic LINKFORSHARED= -Xlinker -export-dynamic *************** *** 209,217 **** cp -ra test debian mx PoPy-1.4.1/ tar czf PoPy-1.4.1.tar.gz PoPy-1.4.1/ - - # Rules appended by makedepend PoPymodule.o: $(srcdir)/PoPymodule.c; $(CC) $(CCSHARED) $(CFLAGS) -c $(srcdir)/PoPymodule.c ! PoPymodule$(SO): PoPymodule.o; $(LDSHARED) PoPymodule.o -L/usr/local/pgsql/lib/ -lpq -o PoPymodule$(SO) --- 209,215 ---- cp -ra test debian mx PoPy-1.4.1/ tar czf PoPy-1.4.1.tar.gz PoPy-1.4.1/ # Rules appended by makedepend PoPymodule.o: $(srcdir)/PoPymodule.c; $(CC) $(CCSHARED) $(CFLAGS) -c $(srcdir)/PoPymodule.c ! PoPymodule$(SO): PoPymodule.o; $(LDSHARED) PoPymodule.o -L/usr/local/pgsql/lib -lpq $(LIBS) -o PoPymodule$(SO)