NAME

core − format of core image file

DESCRIPTION

UNIX writes out a core image of a terminated process when any of various errors occur.  See signal(2) for the list of reasons; the most common are memory violations, illegal instructions, bus errors, and user-generated quit signals. The core image is called ’core’ and is written in the process’s working directory (provided it can be; normal access controls apply).

The first 2048 bytes of the core image are a copy of the system’s per-user data for the process, including the registers as they were at the time of the fault.  The remainder represents the actual contents of the user’s core area when the core image was written.  If the text segment is write-protected and shared, it is not dumped; otherwise the entire address space is dumped. 

In general the debugger adb(1) is sufficient to deal with core images.

SEE ALSO

adb(1), signal(2)

7th Edition