ORA-00600: internal error code, arguments: [4454]

ORA-00600: internal error code, arguments: [4454]
Large SQL Statement Fails With ORA-600 [4454] [ID 353190.1]

Applies to:

Oracle Server - Enterprise Edition - Version: 9.2.0.1 to 10.1.0.4
This problem can occur on any platform.

Symptoms

ORA-600 [4454] is signalled during execution of a merge statement.

Cause

The error is caused by the internal savepoint in a transaction being less than the begin
savepoint. This can occur in long-running jobs or where there are a large number of partitions.
The problem is dealt with in unpublished bug 3182817 'ORA-600 [4454] on STMAIL Database'.

Solution

The job needs to be broken into smaller chunks. Between each chunk the session should disconnect and reconnect to reset the savepoint number.
The problem is avoided by changing the savepoint structure from Oracle 10.2 onwards.