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<H4>"The Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"</H4>
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<H4>By James T. Dennis,
<a href="mailto:answerguy@ssc.com">answerguy@ssc.com</a><BR>
LinuxCare,
<A HREF="http://www.linuxcare.com/">http://www.linuxcare.com/</A>
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<H3 align="left"><img src="../../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif"
height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
>Dealing with "core" files</H3>
<p><strong>From Joe Newby on Thu, 01 Apr 1999
</strong></p>
<!-- ::
Dealing with "core" files
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:: -->
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Dear Answer Guy:
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><BlockQuote>
Love your column, it has given me a lot of information. I've been using
Linux for a while, and I have set up two Linux machines at work for
shared Internet access plus I run Linux exclusively at home, so I'm
somewhere between "newbie" and "guru". I have a question, maybe it's a
stupid one, but it's bugging me anyway.
</BlockQuote></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Periodically, I see files named core appearing here and there throughout
my filesystems. One just showed up in <TT>/etc/X11</TT> directory. They range
in size from 400K to nearly 2MB in size. Looking at them with Midnight
Commander reminds me of reading the old DOS .EXE files, as they all seem
to start with "ELF".
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
What are these things, and can they be safely removed? I should point
out here that I do experiment with different window managers and
sometimes X windows has crashed intermittently. Are these a result of
those crashes?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thanks for your input - I look forward to hearing from you.
Joe
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
A "core" file is a snapshot of a process' memory state just
prior to its abnormal termination by the system. It's an
image of the program's "core" which is an old term for RAM
dating back to a time when computers actually used little
ferrite "donuts" suspended in a wire mesh for their memory
and storage. These can be used by programmers for
post-mortem analysis, clues as to what caused the failure.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
core files can be generated any time one of your programs
crash for just about any reason. Most of us mortals just
delete the things.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<H5 align="center"><a href="http://www.linuxgazette.com/ssc.copying.html"
>Copyright ©</a> 1999, James T. Dennis
<BR>Published in <I>The Linux Gazette</I> Issue 41 May 1999</H5>
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