> Hm.. can you ktrace this and see which call fails? Also don't forget to 
> unlimit the data size before you start mysql (commands vary depending on 
> the shell you're using); the default data size is too low. The maximum 
> currently is 8G.
> 

It was dying

mysqld: Error detected by libpthread: Invalid mutex.
Detected by file "/u/build/HEAD/src/lib/libpthread/pthread_mutex.c", line 133, 
function "pthread_mutex_destroy".

and ... we hadn't adequately relaxed the limits. That's got us going, thanks!