diff -r 03865c41c4f3 -r 55d777c0860a src/share/vm/runtime/arguments.cpp
--- a/src/share/vm/runtime/arguments.cpp	Tue Dec 06 16:35:04 2011 -0500
+++ b/src/share/vm/runtime/arguments.cpp	Wed Dec 07 07:27:09 2011 -0800
@@ -1359,9 +1359,12 @@
   // by ergonomics.
   if (MaxHeapSize <= max_heap_for_compressed_oops()) {
 #if !defined(COMPILER1) || defined(TIERED)
+// disable UseCompressedOops by default on MacOS X until 7118647 is fixed
+#ifndef __APPLE__
     if (FLAG_IS_DEFAULT(UseCompressedOops)) {
       FLAG_SET_ERGO(bool, UseCompressedOops, true);
     }
+#endif // !__APPLE__
 #endif
 #ifdef _WIN64
     if (UseLargePages && UseCompressedOops) {