CORE(V) 9/10/73 CORE(V)
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 (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 first 512 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. At the moment, if the
text segment is write-protected and shared, it is not
dumped; otherwise the entire address space is dumped.
The actual format of the information in the first 512 bytes
is complicated. 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), signal(II)