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, where pid is the process ID of the process, 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 vari-
     ous 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 privileged user must do one of the following

     * Edit /etc/launchd.conf or $HOME/.launchd.conf and add a line specifying
     the limit limit core unlimited

     * A privileged user can also enable cores with launchctl limit core
     unlimited

     * A privileged user can also enable core files by using ulimit(1) or
     limit(1) depending upon the shell.

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

HISTORY
     A core file format appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.

BSD                              June 26, 2008                             BSD