problems with non-trust authentication methods in 7.3devel?

hi
i have strange error.
none (except trust) auythorization methods do work under 7.3devel.
i tried: password, crypt and md5. i set passwords using:
alter user pgdba with password 'aaa';
and
alter user pgdba with encrypted password 'aaa';

none combination works.
in fact (since password is required when starting postmaster) i can not
even start postmaster. what could be the reason?
my machine is intel celeron with linux:

$ rpm -q glibc gcc
glibc-2.2.5-7
gcc-2.95.4-0.20010823.3

what else should i tell for you to be able to help me?

depesz

--
hubert depesz lubaczewski                          http://www.depesz.pl/
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... vows are spoken to be broken ...                 [enjoy the silence]
... words are meaningless and forgettable ...             [depeche mode]