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Re: core file format spec?
- To: Jim Blandy <jimb at cygnus dot com>
- Subject: Re: core file format spec?
- From: Roland McGrath <roland at frob dot com>
- Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 00:28:11 -0400
- Cc: law at cygnus dot com, binutils at sourceware dot cygnus dot com
- Emacs: a compelling argument for pencil and paper.
> - What is the actual current practice? For this, BFD is fine; the
> Linux kernel sources work, too.
That's where you find it. Linux is consistent in style if not in substance
with other ELF systems.
> - Where is the current practice specified? I would expect this to be
> prime ABI supplement material, but...
Uh... right. So all the vendors can ship compatible core dumps?
(Remember: standardization in the real world happens on a need-to-know basis.)
As far as I know, the exact details of core file formats have always been
de facto a private matter between your kernel and your debugger (thus all
extant systems' formats are as publically scrutable as the gdb sources ;-).
In fact, it is a relatively recent notion in the history of Unix that the
hairy bits of core files would contain anything *other* than straight dumps
of your kernel's internal data structures.