FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
bwadmin@sun20-t5140$ java/jdk1.6.0_33/bin/java -version
java version "1.6.0_33"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_33-b03)
Java HotSpot(TM) Server VM (build 20.8-b03, mixed mode)


ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
SunOS sun20-t5140 5.11 11.0 sun4v sparc SUNW,T5140

EXTRA RELEVANT SYSTEM CONFIGURATION :
RAM 32G, free RAM less than 26G

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
Using JDK7u5 on a system with many CPUs and a lot of RAM, the JVM failed to start when there is no -Xmx option specified.

REGRESSION.  Last worked in version 6u31

STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
Run the specified program on a server.

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
bwadmin@sun20-t5140$ java/jdk1.6.0_33/bin/java -d64 -classpath ./test.jar TestJava
This is a test

ACTUAL -
bwadmin@sun20-t5140$ java/jdk1.7.0_05/bin/java -d64 -classpath ./test.jar TestJava
Error occurred during initialization of VM
Unable to allocate bit map for parallel garbage collection for the requested heap size.
Error: Could not create the Java Virtual Machine.
Error: A fatal exception has occurred. Program will exit.


ERROR MESSAGES/STACK TRACES THAT OCCUR :
As indicate in the actual result.

REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------

public class TestJava
{
  public static void main(String[] args)
  {
    System.out.println("This is a test");
  }
}

---------- END SOURCE ----------

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
2 possible workaround:
  1. Add -Xmx2m
  2. Add -XX:+UseSerialGC