CORE(5)

NAME
core - memory image file format

SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/param.h>

DESCRIPTION
A small number of signals which cause abnormal termination of a process also cause a record of the process's in-core state to be written to disk for later examination by one of the available debuggers. (See sigaction(2).) This memory image is written to a file named by default core.pid in the /cores directory; provided the terminated process had write permission in the directory, and the directory existed.

The maximum size of a core file is limited by setrlimit(2). Files which would be larger than the limit are not created.

The core file consists of the ~ Mach-O(5) header as described in the <mach-o/loader.h> file. The remainder of the core file consists of various sections described in the Mach-O(5) header.

NOTE
Core dumps are disabled by default under Darwin/Mac OS X. To re-enable core dumps, a privlaged user must edit /etc/hostconfig to contain the line:

    COREDUMPS=-YES-

SEE ALSO
gdb(1), setrlimit(2), sigaction(2), Mach-O(5), sysctl(8)

HISTORY
A core file format appeared in AT&T UNIX.