.\""Copyright (c) 2001 Apple Computer, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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.Dd March 18, 2002
.Dt CORE 5
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm core
.Nd memory image file format
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.In sys/param.h
.Sh 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
.Xr sigaction 2 . )
This memory image is written to a file named by default
.Nm core.pid
in the
.Nm /cores
directory;
provided the terminated process had write permission in the directory,
and the directory existed.
.Pp
The maximum size of a core file is limited by
.Xr setrlimit 2 .
Files which would be larger than the limit are not created.
.Pp
The core file consists of the
.Pa Xr Mach-O 5
header as  described in the
.Aq Pa sys/loader.h
file.
The remainder of the core
file consists of various sections described in the
.Xr Mach-O 5
header.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr gdb 1 ,
.Xr setrlimit 2 ,
.Xr sigaction 2 ,
.Xr Mach-O 5,
.Xr sysctl 8
.Sh HISTORY
A
.Nm
file format appeared in
.At v6 .