1CORE(5) File Formats Manual CORE(5)
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6 core - format of memory image file
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9 #include <sys/param.h>
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12 The UNIX System writes out a memory image of a terminated process when
13 any of various errors occur. See sigvec(2) for the list of reasons;
14 the most common are memory violations, illegal instructions, bus
15 errors, and user-generated quit signals. The memory image is called
16 `core' and is written in the process's working directory (provided it
17 can be; normal access controls apply).
18 The core file consists of the u. area, whose size (in 64 byte
20 `clicks') is defined by the USIZE manifest in the <sys/param.h> file.
21 The u. area starts with a user structure as given in <sys/user.h>.
22 The rest of the u. area consists of the kernel stack for the termi‐
23 nated process which includes (among other things) the processor regis‐
24 ters at the time of the fault; see the system listings for the format
25 of this area. The remainder of the core file consists first of the
26 data pages and then the stack pages of the process image. The amount
27 of data space image in the core file is given (in clicks) by the vari‐
28 able u_dsize in the u. area. If the text segment was not write-only
29 and and shared it is included as the first etext bytes of the data
30 image where etext is taken from the symbol table of the object file
31 which generated the memory image. The amount of stack image in the
32 core file is given (in clicks) by the variable u_ssize in the u. area.
33 In general the debugger adb(1) is sufficient to deal with core images.
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37 adb(1), sigvec(2), stack(5)
383rd Berkeley Distribution January 26, 1987 CORE(5)