Check this out

I usually employ a logon trigger for most of my Oracle databases so I can grab certain identifying information about the session. Then I save this information in another table for later analysis.

I have started testing 9iR2 on a 64-bit Linux box and have come across a certain peculiarity. v$session is defined as:

SQL> desc v$session
Name                                      Null?    Type
----------------------------------------- -------- ----------------------------
SADDR                                              RAW(4)
SID                                                NUMBER
...

I then create a table using the same type and try to insert a value:

SQL> create table jh1 (saddr raw(4));

Table created.

SQL> desc jh1
Name                                      Null?    Type
----------------------------------------- -------- ----------------------------
SADDR                                              RAW(4)

SQL> insert into jh1 select saddr from v$session;
insert into jh1 select saddr from v$session
                      *
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01401: inserted value too large for column

Hmmmf. So I do a CTAS:

SQL> drop table jh1;

Table dropped.

SQL> create table jh1 as select saddr from v$session;

Table created.

SQL> desc jh1
Name                                      Null?    Type
----------------------------------------- -------- ----------------------------
SADDR                                              RAW(8)

...and look what size the column is!

SQL> select * from v$version;

BANNER
----------------------------------------------------------------
Oracle9i Enterprise Edition Release 9.2.0.7.0 - 64bit Production
PL/SQL Release 9.2.0.7.0 - Production
CORE    9.2.0.7.0       Production
TNS for Linux: Version 9.2.0.7.0 - Production
NLSRTL Version 9.2.0.7.0 - Production

Update: 2006/11/01 16:09:
From Support:

I checked my Windows (32bit) database and v$session.saddr is a RAW(4).

OK, that explains it.