CORE(5) BSD File Formats Manual 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 Version 6 AT&T UNIX.
BSD
March 18, 2002 BSD