This is the mail archive of the
gdb-patches@sources.redhat.com
mailing list for the GDB project.
Re: gcore or generate-core-file command?
- From: "Eli Zaretskii" <eliz at gnu dot org>
- To: Michael Snyder <msnyder at redhat dot com>
- Cc: cagney at gnu dot org, cmarkle at sendmail dot com, gdb at sources dot redhat dot com, gdb-patches at sources dot redhat dot com
- Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 16:59:30 +0200
- Subject: Re: gcore or generate-core-file command?
- References: <00df01c46715$ef7cbc80$0239a8c0@D4PS1621> <40F58CEB.9080308@gnu.org> <40F5B514.8070906@redhat.com>
- Reply-to: Eli Zaretskii <eliz at gnu dot org>
I've committed the attached patch to document this command.
2004-10-23 Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>
* gdb.texinfo (Core File Generation): New section.
Index: gdb.texinfo
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/src/src/gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo,v
retrieving revision 1.221
diff -u -r1.221 gdb.texinfo
--- gdb.texinfo 23 Oct 2004 14:34:53 -0000 1.221
+++ gdb.texinfo 23 Oct 2004 15:00:42 -0000
@@ -4780,6 +4780,7 @@
* Auxiliary Vector:: Auxiliary data provided by operating system
* Memory Region Attributes:: Memory region attributes
* Dump/Restore Files:: Copy between memory and a file
+* Core File Generation:: Cause a program dump its core
* Character Sets:: Debugging programs that use a different
character set than GDB does
@end menu
@@ -6176,6 +6177,36 @@
@end table
+@node Core File Generation
+@section How to Produce a Core File from Your Program
+@cindex dump core from inferior
+
+A @dfn{core file} or @dfn{core dump} is a file that records the memory
+image of a running process and its process status (register values
+etc.). Its primary use is post-mortem debugging of a program that
+crashed while it ran outside a debugger. A program that crashes
+automatically produces a core file, unless this feature is disabled by
+the user. @xref{Files}, for information on invoking @value{GDBN} in
+the post-mortem debugging mode.
+
+Occasionally, you may wish to produce a core file of the program you
+are debugging in order to preserve a snapshot of its state.
+@value{GDBN} has a special command for that.
+
+@table @code
+@kindex gcore
+@kindex generate-core-file
+@item generate-core-file [@var{file}]
+@itemx gcore [@var{file}]
+Produce a core dump of the inferior process. The optional argument
+@var{file} specifies the file name where to put the core dump. If not
+specified, the file name defaults to @file{core.@var{pid}}, where
+@var{pid} is the inferior process ID.
+
+Note that this command is implemented only for some systems (as of
+this writing, @sc{gnu}/Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, Unixware, and S390).
+@end table
+
@node Character Sets
@section Character Sets
@cindex character sets