portupgrade, portsdb -U failing, ruby dumping core

[Dan Finn]

[ root @ stewie : /usr/ports/sysutils/portupgrade] : portupgrade ruby
[Failed `Inappropriate file type or format'] [Updating the portsdb
<format:bdb1_btree> in /usr/ports ... - 11725 port entries found
.........1000.........2000.........3000.........4000.........5000.........6000.........7000.........8000..../usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/portsdb.rb:587:
[BUG] Bus Error
ruby 1.8.1 (2004-05-02) [i386-freebsd5]

Abort trap (core dumped)

Any ideas what could be causing this?  I recently installed portindex
and have been using that to generate indexes after reading someone
suggestion on one of the fbsd mailing lists.  I don't think I have
made any other changes recently.