Generating index fails (possible boehm-gc issue)

[zeuner]

I'm unable to generate the index:

$ /nix/store/zwdndjddpfa448pb2v18s1iz4js0sfy2-nix-index-0.1.6/bin/nix-index
error: querying available packages failed
caused by: nix-env failed with error: nix-env failed with unknown exit code:
Too many heap sections: Increase MAXHINCR or MAX_HEAP_SECTS

Any advice on how to get more verbose/insightful diagnostics here is also appreciated.

[figsoda]

related: https://github.com/NixOS/nix/issues/287