Why are core dump files generated?

linux coredump
Chaithra picture Chaithra · Apr 22, 2009 · Viewed 67.2k times · Source

Sometimes when I run my code, a core dump file is generated when I terminate the program by Ctrl+\. The file name is of the form core.*. The program is not terminating abruptly, and there is no segmentation fault. I believe it is SIGQUIT and not SIGABRT or SIGSEGV. If I try Ctrl+C, or Ctrl+Z, then it is not generated.

Can anyone tell why it is generated only when Ctrl+\ is pressed? How can I avoid this core dump file from being generated? Is there any use for the core dumped file?

Answer

JaredPar picture JaredPar · Apr 22, 2009

A process dumps core when it is terminated by the operating system due to a fault in the program. The most typical reason this occurs is because the program accessed an invalid pointer value. Given that you have a sporadic dump, it's likely that you are using an uninitialized pointer.

Can you post the code that is causing the fault? Other than vague generalizations it's hard to guess what's wrong without actually seeing code.

As for what a core dump actually is, check out this Wikipedia article:

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