CORE(5) BSD File Formats Manual CORE(5)NAMEcore — memory image file format
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/param.h>
For a.out-format core files:
#include <sys/core.h>
For ELF-format core files:
#include <sys/exec.h>
#include <sys/exec_elf.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 signal(7)).
This memory image is written to a file named from a per-process template;
provided the terminated process had write permission, and provided the
abnormality did not cause a system crash. (In this event, the decision
to save the core file is arbitrary, see savecore(8).) The file is named
from a per-process template, mapped to the sysctl variable
proc.<pid>.corename (where <pid> has to be replaced by the pid in decimal
format of the process). This template is either an absolute or relative
path name, in which format characters can be used, preceded by the per‐
cent character (“%”). The following characters are recognized as format
and substituted:
n The process's name
p The PID of the process (in decimal)
t The process's creation date (a la time(3), in decimal)
u The login name, as returned by getlogin(2)
By default, the per-process template string points to the default core
name template, which is mapped to the sysctl variable kern.defcorename.
Changing this value on a live system will change the core name template
for all processes which didn't have a per-process template set. The
default value of the default core name template is %n.core and can be
changed at compile-time with the kernel configuration option options
DEFCORENAME (see options(4))
The per-process template string is inherited on process creation, but is
reset to point to the default core name template on execution of a set-id
binary.
The maximum size of a core file is limited by setrlimit(2). Files which
would be larger than the limit are not created.
ELF CORE FORMAT
ELF-format core files are described by a standard ELF exec header and a
series of ELF program headers. Each program header describes a range of
the virtual address space of the process.
In addition, NetBSD ELF core files include an ELF note section which pro‐
vides additional information about the process. The first note in the
note section has a note name of “NetBSD-CORE” and a note type of
ELF_NOTE_NETBSD_CORE_PROCINFO (1), and contains the following structure:
struct netbsd_elfcore_procinfo {
/* Version 1 fields start here. */
uint32_t cpi_version; /* netbsd_elfcore_procinfo version */
uint32_t cpi_cpisize; /* sizeof(netbsd_elfcore_procinfo) */
uint32_t cpi_signo; /* killing signal */
uint32_t cpi_sigcode; /* signal code */
uint32_t cpi_sigpend[4]; /* pending signals */
uint32_t cpi_sigmask[4]; /* blocked signals */
uint32_t cpi_sigignore[4]; /* blocked signals */
uint32_t cpi_sigcatch[4]; /* blocked signals */
int32_t cpi_pid; /* process ID */
int32_t cpi_ppid; /* parent process ID */
int32_t cpi_pgrp; /* process group ID */
int32_t cpi_sid; /* session ID */
uint32_t cpi_ruid; /* real user ID */
uint32_t cpi_euid; /* effective user ID */
uint32_t cpi_svuid; /* saved user ID */
uint32_t cpi_rgid; /* real group ID */
uint32_t cpi_egid; /* effective group ID */
uint32_t cpi_svgid; /* saved group ID */
uint32_t cpi_nlwps; /* number of LWPs */
int8_t cpi_name[32]; /* copy of p->p_comm */
/* Add version 2 fields below here. */
};
The fields of struct netbsd_elfcore_procinfo are as follows:
cpi_version The version of this structure. The current version is
defined by the NETBSD_ELFCORE_PROCINFO_VERSION constant.
cpi_cpisize The size of this structure.
cpi_signo Signal that caused the process to dump core.
cpi_sigcode Signal-specific code, if any, corresponding to
cpi_signo.
cpi_sigpend A mask of signals pending delivery to the process. This
may be examined by copying it to a sigset_t.
cpi_sigmask The set of signals currently blocked by the process.
This may be examined by copying it to a sigset_t.
cpi_sigignore The set of signals currently being ignored by the
process. This may be examined by copying it to a
sigset_t.
cpi_sigcatch The set of signals with registers signals handlers for
the process. This may be examined by copying it to a
sigset_t.
cpi_pid Process ID of the process.
cpi_ppid Process ID of the parent process.
cpi_pgrp Process group ID of the process.
cpi_sid Session ID of the process.
cpi_ruid Real user ID of the process.
cpi_euid Effective user ID of the process.
cpi_svuid Saved user ID of the process.
cpi_rgid Real group ID of the process.
cpi_egid Effective group ID of the process.
cpi_svgid Saved group ID of the process.
cpi_nlwps Number of kernel-visible execution contexts (LWPs) of
the process.
cpi_name Process name, copied from the p_comm field of struct
proc.
The note section also contains additional notes for each kernel-visible
execution context of the process (LWP). These notes have names of the
form “NetBSD-CORE@nn” where “nn” is the LWP ID of the execution context,
for example: “NetBSD-CORE@1”. These notes contain register and other
per-execution context data in the same format as is used by the ptrace(2)
system call. The note types correspond to the ptrace(2) request numbers
that return the same data. For example, a note with a note type of
PT_GETREGS would contain a struct reg with the register contents of the
execution context. For a complete list of available ptrace(2) request
types for a given architecture, refer to that architecture's
<machine/ptrace.h> header file.
A.OUT CORE FORMAT
The core file consists of a core header followed by a number of segments.
Each segment is preceded by a core segment header. Both the core header
and core segment header are defined in <sys/core.h>.
The core header, struct core, specifies the lengths of the core header
itself and each of the following core segment headers to allow for any
machine dependent alignment requirements.
struct core {
uint32_t c_midmag; /* magic, id, flags */
uint16_t c_hdrsize; /* Size of this header (machdep algn) */
uint16_t c_seghdrsize; /* Size of a segment header */
uint32_t c_nseg; /* # of core segments */
char c_name[MAXCOMLEN+1]; /* Copy of p->p_comm */
uint32_t c_signo; /* Killing signal */
u_long c_ucode; /* Signal code */
u_long c_cpusize; /* Size of machine dependent segment */
u_long c_tsize; /* Size of traditional text segment */
u_long c_dsize; /* Size of traditional data segment */
u_long c_ssize; /* Size of traditional stack segment */
};
The fields of struct core are as follows:
c_midmag Core file machine ID, magic value, and flags. These
values may be extracted with the CORE_GETMID(),
CORE_GETMAGIC(), and CORE_GETFLAG() macros. The machine
ID values are listed in <sys/exec_aout.h>. For a valid
core file, the magic value in the header must be
COREMAGIC. No flags are defined for the core header.
c_hdrsize Size of this data structure.
c_seghdrsize Size of a segment header.
c_nseg Number of segments that follow this header.
c_name Process name, copied from the p_comm field of struct
proc.
c_signo Signal that caused the process to dump core.
c_ucode Code associated with the signal.
c_cpusize Size of the segment containing CPU-specific information.
This segment will have the CORE_CPU flag set.
c_tsize Size of the segment containing the program text.
c_dsize Size of the segment containing the program's traditional
data area.
c_ssize Size of the segment containing the program's traditional
stack area. This segment will have the CORE_STACK flag
set.
The header is followed by c_nseg segments, each of which is preceded with
a segment header, struct coreseg:
struct coreseg {
uint32_t c_midmag; /* magic, id, flags */
u_long c_addr; /* Virtual address of segment */
u_long c_size; /* Size of this segment */
};
The fields of struct coreseg are as follows:
c_midmag Core segment magic value and flags. These values may be
extracted with the CORE_GETMAGIC() and CORE_GETFLAG()
macros. The magic value in the segment header must be
CORESEGMAGIC. Exactly one of the flags CORE_CPU, CORE_DATA,
or CORE_STACK will be set to indicate the segment type.
c_addr Virtual address of the segment in the program image. Mean‐
ingless if the segment type is CORE_CPU.
c_size Size of the segment, not including this header.
SEE ALSOa.out(5), elf(5), gdb(1), setrlimit(2), sysctl(3), signal(7), sysctl(8)HISTORY
A core file format appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX. The NetBSD a.out
core file format was introduced in NetBSD 1.0. The NetBSD ELF core file
format was introduced in NetBSD 1.6.
In releases previous to NetBSD 1.6, ELF program images produced a.out-
format core files.
BUGS
There is no standard location or name for the CPU-dependent data struc‐
ture stored in the CORE_CPU segment.
BSD July 8, 2002 BSD
