make -j # bootstrap fails

[DJ Delorie]

> Building gcc on multiprocessor machines is a fine thing - when it works.
> 
> Sometimes it does, sometimes it dies and invoking
> make bootstrap
> afterwards finishes the bootstrap w/o error.
> 
> Any explanation for this behaviour?
> 
> # make -v
> GNU Make version 3.79.1, by Richard Stallman and Roland McGrath.
> Built for hppa2.0w-hp-hpux11.00

Could you be more specific, please?  How many processors does your
machine have?  What were the exact error messages you saw?  Which gcc
(2.x, 3.0, cvs) were you trying to build?  Which -j value did you
give?