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Core Dump Internals

The document discusses the anatomy of core dump images, highlighting the choice between legacy binary format and the recommended ELF format, which provides detailed CPU and memory state information. It explains how the memory state captures a snapshot of tasks and how CPU status is recorded in ELF notes. Additionally, it includes diagrams illustrating the core dump layout and implementation overview, noting that these representations may change in future releases.

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11 views1 page

Core Dump Internals

The document discusses the anatomy of core dump images, highlighting the choice between legacy binary format and the recommended ELF format, which provides detailed CPU and memory state information. It explains how the memory state captures a snapshot of tasks and how CPU status is recorded in ELF notes. Additionally, it includes diagrams illustrating the core dump layout and implementation overview, noting that these representations may change in future releases.

Uploaded by

rm
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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:orphan:

Anatomy of core dump image


--------------------------

Core dump component can be configured to use old legacy binary format or the new
ELF one. The ELF format is recommended for new designs. It provides more
information about the CPU and memory state of a program at the moment when panic
handler is entered.
The memory state embeds a snapshot of all tasks mapped in the memory space of the
program. The CPU state contains register values when the core dump has been
generated. Core dump file uses a subset of the ELF structures to register these
information.
Loadable ELF segments are used for the memory state of the process while ELF notes
(ELF.PT_NOTE) are used for process metadata (pid, registers, signal, ...).
Especially, the CPU status is stored in a note with a special name and type
(``CORE``, ``NT_PRSTATUS type``).

Here is an overview of coredump layout:

.. figure:: ../../_static/core_dump_format_elf.png
:align: center
:alt: Core dump image format
:figclass: align-center

Core dump ELF image format

.. figure:: ../../_static/core_dump_format_bin.png
:align: center
:alt: Core dump binary image format
:figclass: align-center

Core dump binary image format

Note: The format of image file showed on the above pictures represents current
version of image and can be changed in future releases.

Overview of implementation
--------------------------

The figure below describes some basic aspects related to implementation of core
dump:

.. figure:: ../../_static/core_dump_impl.png
:align: center
:alt: Core dump implementation overview
:figclass: align-center

Core dump implementation overview

Note: The diagram above hide some details and represents current implementation of
the core dump and can be changed later.

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