broken 'SHOW TABLE'-like query works in 8, not 8.1.1

[Sebastian <buddhahead(at)gmail(dot)com>]

Hi,

I have a query that previously worked fine using pg8 on Fedora. Since
then we've moved to a FreeBSD 6 server running pg8.1.1 and the query
doesn't seem to ever finish.

I have VACUUM ANALYZEd the database. Here is the query:

SELECT column_name, table_schema, table_name, c.data_type,
et.data_type as array_type,
col_description('codes.countries'::regclass,ordinal_position),
c.character_maximum_length
                        FROM information_schema.columns c
                        LEFT JOIN information_schema.element_types et
                                ON et.object_schema = table_schema
                                AND et.object_name = table_name
                                AND et.array_type_identifier = c.dtd_identifier
                        WHERE table_schema='codes' and table_name='countries'
                        ORDER BY ordinal_position

-- replaces 'codes' and 'countries' with a schema and table that exist


One fellow on IRC using FreeBSD 4.11 and pg8.1.1 can reproduce the problem.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,
sebastian