bsd man page for core

CORE(5) 							File Formats Manual							   CORE(5)

NAME
       core - format of memory image file

SYNOPSIS
       #include <sys/param.h>

DESCRIPTION
       The UNIX System writes out a memory image of a terminated process when any of various errors occur.  See sigvec(2) for the list of reasons;
       the most common are memory violations, illegal instructions, bus errors, and user-generated quit  signals.   The  memory  image	is  called
       `core' and is written in the process's working directory (provided it can be; normal access controls apply).

       The  core  file consists of the u.  area, whose size (in 64 byte `clicks') is defined by the USIZE manifest in the <sys/param.h> file.  The
       u.  area starts with a user structure as given in <sys/user.h>.	The rest of the u.  area consists of the kernel stack for  the	terminated
       process	which  includes  (among  other things) the processor registers at the time of the fault; see the system listings for the format of
       this area.  The remainder of the core file consists first of the data pages and then the stack pages of the process image.  The	amount	of
       data space image in the core file is given (in clicks) by the variable u_dsize in the u.  area.	If the text segment was not write-only and
       and shared it is included as the first etext bytes of the data image where etext is taken from the symbol table of the  object  file  which
       generated the memory image.  The amount of stack image in the core file is given (in clicks) by the variable u_ssize in the u.  area.

       In general the debugger adb(1) is sufficient to deal with core images.

SEE ALSO
       adb(1), sigvec(2), stack(5)

3rd Berkeley Distribution					 January 26, 1987							   CORE(5)