Sometimes I am asking my self is there a danger from erasing core files
? Ther are in huge sizes ?

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ehabaziz2001@gmail.com wrote:
>
> Sometimes I am asking my self is there a danger from erasing core files?

Developers use core files to debug their programs.  If you have
developers on your systems you can distrupt their work so
cleaning core files is their job.  If you have no developers then
my may want to send the core files to your support team for
debugging before deleting.  Most of the time deleting them is
fine but you have to know what they are for before you can reach
that decision.

> Ther are in huge sizes ?

Not really.  Read up on sparsely populated files.  Then do a
df, delete one, and do another df.  You'll see what the term
means.

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ehabaziz2001@gmail.com wrote:
> Sometimes I am asking my self is there a danger from erasing core files
> ? Ther are in huge sizes ?
In general it is safe to remove core files but if the core was dumped
by the developers who wrote the program, then they need to figure out
what the problem was or just see how the program was doing, so removing
that core might get them really unhappy.

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AHH One question,
How does anybody debug the core file. Many a times i see with the `file
corefilename` command the bugger program causing this core file. I
suppose it's the memory image of the actual program running in physical
mem. But then how do they debug. Does anybody have idea on this.

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ehabaziz2001@gmail.com wrote:
> Sometimes I am asking my self is there a danger from erasing core files
> ? Ther are in huge sizes ?
>
You can also set the system up so that it does not produce core dump.  I
think coreadm might do the trick.

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umeya wrote:
> AHH One question,
> How does anybody debug the core file. Many a times i see with the `file
> corefilename` command the bugger program causing this core file. I
> suppose it's the memory image of the actual program running in physical
> mem. But then how do they debug. Does anybody have idea on this.
>
What are you replying to?  Please quote context.

You just load to core file into your debugger.  Try it and see.

--
Ian Collins.

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In article <1146862753.317044.99560@e56g2000cwe.googlegroups.com>,
"Vahid Moghaddasi" <vahid.moghaddasi@gmail.com> wrote:

> ehabaziz2001@gmail.com wrote: 
> In general it is safe to remove core files but if the core was dumped
> by the developers who wrote the program, then they need to figure out
> what the problem was or just see how the program was doing, so removing
> that core might get them really unhappy.

Or if you report a problem to a vendor, they may want you to send the
core file so they can determine what the program was doing at the time
it failed.

--
Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA
*** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me ***
*** PLEASE don't copy me on replies, I'll read them in the group ***

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ehabaziz2001@gmail.com writes:
> Sometimes I am asking my self is there a danger from erasing core files
> ? Ther are in huge sizes ?

Are you asking about removing your own core files, or removing other
users' core files?  The former is perfectly fine if you're not going
to use them.  The latter, if you're an administrator, is probably
something you should discuss with your users.

--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org  <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
San Diego Supercomputer Center             <*>  <http://users.sdsc.edu/~kst>
We must do something.  This is something.  Therefore, we must do this.

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>AHH One question,
>How does anybody debug the core file. Many a times i see with the `file
>corefilename` command the bugger program causing this core file. I
>suppose it's the memory image of the actual program running in physical
>mem. But then how do they debug. Does anybody have idea on this.
If you are not a developer with the debugging software and or the
person who wrote the code that is dumping, then you typically cannot
debug the core dump.
However I have a way that I have used over the years to read through a
core dump and determine what program is dumping and sometimes other
useful data.

Use the strings command on the file:
strings core.1432|more

This pulls any readable strings of data out of the file for you to
examine.  Within the first four lines will be the the path and filename
of the executable that dumped.

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On 2006-05-08, Tonagon <aroberts@micros.com> wrote: 
> If you are not a developer with the debugging software and or the
> person who wrote the code that is dumping, then you typically cannot
> debug the core dump.
> However I have a way that I have used over the years to read through a
> core dump and determine what program is dumping and sometimes other
> useful data.
>
> Use the strings command on the file:
> strings core.1432|more
>
> This pulls any readable strings of data out of the file for you to
> examine.  Within the first four lines will be the the path and filename
> of the executable that dumped.

The Solaris "file" command will tell you what dumped.

huge{~}: file core
core:           ELF 32-bit MSB core file SPARC Version 1, from 'gst-thumbnai
l'

Hmmm. Gnome. A reliable source of core dumps. Still, your method provides
more information;

strings core | more

huge{~}: strings core | more
CORE
gst-thumbnail
gst-thumbnail file:///home/huge/Desktop/media/video/loton_sprint.wmv /tmp/.g
nom
CORE
SUNW,Ultra-60
CORE
CORE
CORE

Very insistent on it being a core dump, isn't it?


--
"Other people are not your property."
[email me at huge [at] huge [dot] org [dot] uk]

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