Bug#175887: dpkg: "Dynamic MMap ran out of room" if large num of packages

[Mike Fedyk <mfedyk@matchmail.com>]

Package: dpkg
Version: 1.10.9
Severity: important

Reading Package Lists... Error!
E: Dynamic MMap ran out of room
E: Error occured while processing kernel-image-2.4.19-fs196-om197 (NewVersion1)
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/dpkg/status
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

Remove any one line from [1], and the above error is avoided.  I think dpkg
is having problems with lots of packages.  I have 128MB ram with 300MB swap,
so it shouldn't be having any trouble.  Also, I'm seeing this on another
machine with a different kernel that is entirely running testing, instead of
a mixed testing/unstable as this machine is.

[1] sources.list
#Stable
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ stable main non-free contrib
deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free

#Testing
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ testing main non-free contrib
deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US testing/non-US main contrib non-free

#Unstable 
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable main non-free contrib
deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US unstable/non-US main contrib non-free

#Security
deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates main contrib non-free

#Proposed Updates
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ stable-proposed-updates main non-free contrib
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ testing-proposed-updates main non-free contrib

[2] preferences
package: *
pin: release l=Debian-Security
Pin-Priority: 800

package: *
pin: release a=proposed-updates
Pin-Priority: 800

package: *
pin: release a=testing
Pin-Priority: 800


-- System Information
Debian Release: testing/unstable
Architecture: i386
Kernel: Linux mis-mike-wstn 2.4.20aa1 #1 SMP Mon Dec 23 14:03:16 PST 2002 i686
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C

Versions of packages dpkg depends on:
ii  dselect                       1.10.9     a user tool to manage Debian packa
ii  libc6                         2.3.1-9    GNU C Library: Shared libraries an