CORE (V)                     2/7/73                      CORE (V)





NAME            format of core image



DESCRIPTION     UNIX writes out a core image of a terminated pro-

                cess when any of various errors occur.  See

                wait(II) 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 size and structure of the core image file de-

                pend to some extent on which system is involved.

                In general there is a 512-byte area at the end

                which contains the system's per-process data for

                that process.  (64 bytes in older systems).  The

                remainder represents the actual contents of the

                user's core area when the core image was written.

                In the current system, this area is variable in

                size in that only the locations from user 0 to

                the program break, plus the stack, are dumped.



                When any fatal trap occurs, all the useful regis-

                ters are stored on the stack.  In the current

                system, which has relocation and protection hard-

                ware, the stack used is the system stack, which

                is kept in the per-process area; in older sys-

                tems, there is only one stack, and it is located

                in the user's core area.



                The actual format of the information is compli-

                cated because it depends on what hardware is pre-

                sent (EAE, floating-point option), whether

                single- or double-precision floating mode is in

                effect, and also involves relocating addresses in

                the system's address space.  A guru will have to

                be consulted if enlightenment is required.



                In general the debugger db(I) should be used to

                deal with core images.



SEE ALSO        db(I), wait(II)