SAVECORE(8) BSD System Manager's Manual SAVECORE(8)
NAME
savecore - save a core dump of the operating system
SYNOPSIS
savecore dirname [system]
DESCRIPTION
Savecore is meant to be called near the end of the initialization file
/etc/rc (see rc(8)). Its function is to save the core dump of the system
(assuming one was made) and to write a reboot message in the shutdown
log.
Operands supported by savecore:
dirname The directory name where the core dump will be written.
system If the core dump was from a system other than /bsd, the
name of that system must be supplied as system.
Savecore checks the core dump to be certain it corresponds with the cur-
rent running kernel. If the core dump is current, it saves the core im-
age in dirname/bsdcore.n and the namelist in dirname/bsd.n. Sequence num-
bers are incremented and appended to the end of the pathnames each time
savecore is run in the directory.
Before savecore writes out a core image, it reads a number from the file
dirname/minfree. If the number of free kilobytes on the filesystem which
contains dirname is less than the number obtained from the minfree file,
the core dump is not saved. If the minfree file does not exist, savecore
always writes out the core file (assuming that a core dump was taken).
Savecore also logs a reboot message using facility LOG_AUTH (see
syslog(3)). If the system crashed as a result of a panic, savecore logs
the panic string too.
FILES
/bsd current kernel
BUGS
Can be fooled into thinking a core dump is the wrong size.
HISTORY
The savecore command appeared in 4.1BSD.
4th Berkeley Distribution March 27, 1993 1