Contains an image of a process at the time of an error.
A core file is created in the current directory when various errors occur. Errors such as memory-address violations, illegal instructions, bus errors, and user-generated quit signals commonly cause this core dump. The core file that is created contains a memory image of the terminated process.
Note: Starting with AIX 5.1 the core dump file has a unique name in the format:core .pid.ddhhmmsswhere:
- pid: process id
- dd: Day of the Month
- hh: Hours
- mm: Minutes
- ss: Seconds
A process with a saved user ID that differs from the real user ID does not
produce a memory image. The same holds true for the group ID (GID) and
effective group ID. The contents of a core dump are organized
sequentially in the core file as follows:
By default, the user data is, anonymously mapped regions, and vm_info structures are not included in a core dump. This partial core dump includes the current process stack, thread stack, the thread mstsave structures, the user structure, and the state of the registers at the time of the fault. A partial core dump contains sufficient information for a stack traceback. The size of a core dump can also be limited by the setrlimit subroutine.
To enable a full core dump, set the SA_FULLDUMP flag in the sigaction subroutine for the signal that is to generate a full core dump. If this flag is set when the core is dumped, the data section is, anonymously mapped regions, and vm_info structures are included in the core dump.
The format of the core header is
defined by the core_dump structure (in the core.h
header file), which is organized as follows:
Field Type | Field Name | Description | |
char | c_signo | The number of the signal which caused the error | |
char | c_flag | A bit field which describes the core dump type. The meanings of the bits are as follows: | |
|
| FULL_CORE | core contains the data sections (0x01) |
|
| CORE_VERSION_1 | core was generated by AIX Version 4 or higher (0x02) |
|
| MSTS_VALID | core contains mstsave structures (0x04) |
|
| CORE_BIGDATA | core contains big data (0x08) |
|
| UBLOCK_VALID | core contains the u_block structure (0x10) |
|
| USTACK_VALID | core contains the user stack (0x20) |
|
| LE_VALID | core contains at least one module (0x40) |
|
| CORE_TRUNC | core was truncated (0x80) |
ushort | c_entries | The number of core dump modules | |
struct ld_info * | c_tab | The offset to the beginning of the core table | |
caddr_t | c_stack | The offset to the beginning of the user stack | |
int | c_size | The size of the user stack | |
struct mstsave | c_mst | A copy of the faulting mst | |
struct user | c_u | A copy of the user structure | |
int | c_nmsts | The number of mstsave structures referenced by the c_msts field | |
struct mstsave * | c_msts | The offset to the other threads' mstsave structures | |
int | c_datasize | The size of the data region | |
caddr_t | c_data | The offset to user data | |
int | c_vmregions | The number of anonymously mapped regions | |
struct vm_info * | c_vmm | The offset to the start of the vm_info table |
The param.h file.
The raise subroutine, setrlimit subroutine, setuid subroutine, sigaction subroutine.
The Header Files Overview in AIX 5L Version 5.1 Files Reference defines header files, describes how they are used, and lists several header files for which information is provided in this documentation.