Author Topic: How to create/collect a core dump file on Linux  (Read 4014 times)

Dennis

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How to create/collect a core dump file on Linux
« on: November 09, 2022, 02:36:18 PM »
There are a couple of ways of capturing a core dump on Linux to help us analyze problems.
  • Attach to SlickEdit with gdb:
    • Find the process ID for the SlickEdit executable:  ps -ef | grep vs_exe
    • gdb -p process-id
    • At the gdb prompt, generate the core dump by invoking the "generate-core-file" command.
      After using this command, it should return you output:   Saved corefile core.process-id
  • Attach to SlickEdit with lldb (if available, also works for macOS):
    • Find the process ID for the SlickEdit executable:  ps -ef | grep vs_exe
    • lldb -p process-id
    • At the lldb prompt, generate the core dump by invoking the command:  process save-core <path>
  • The traditional method is for Linux to write a "core" file in the working directory. 
    However, most newer Linux distributions have this behavior disabled by default.
  • Depending on your Linux distribution, you can enable core dumps or find out where they are saved using some of the following settings:
    • Use ulimit to allow SlickEdit to create a core dump:  ulimit -S -c unlimited vs_exe
    • Set a system limit in /etc/security/limits.conf.  :  soft core unlimited</li>
    • Check ulimit settings
      • hard limit: ulimit -H -c
      • soft limit:  ulimit -S -c
    • Check the core pattern.  Use the /proc file system to gather the value and change it temporarily during testing: 
      cat /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern
      If you prefer using sysctl, then query the kernel.core_pattern key.
      It might show something like this:  |/usr/share/apport/apport %p %s %c %P
      In this case, a crash will be piped to the apport utility. So this means that crashes are going to be analyzed by Apport. Normally crashes are found in /var/crash, but may also be in /var/spool or /var/lib/systemd/coredump on other Linux distributions.

The core file may be pretty large, so it is preferred that you zip up the core file before uploading/sending/posting.