How to generate a core dump in Linux on a segmentation fault?

Question

I have a process in Linux that\'s getting a segmentation fault. How can I tell it to generate a core dump when it fails?

Answer 1

In order to activate the core dump do the following:

1. In /etc/profile comment the line:

   # ulimit -S -c 0 > /dev/null 2>&1
   

2. In /etc/security/limits.conf comment out the line:

   *               soft    core            0
   

3. execute the cmd limit coredumpsize unlimited and check it with cmd limit:

   # limit coredumpsize unlimited
   # limit
   cputime      unlimited
   filesize     unlimited
   datasize     unlimited
   stacksize    10240 kbytes
   coredumpsize unlimited
   memoryuse    unlimited
   vmemoryuse   unlimited
   descriptors  1024
   memorylocked 32 kbytes
   maxproc      528383
   #
   

4. to check if the corefile gets written you can kill the relating process with cmd kill -s SEGV (should not be needed, just in case no core file gets written this can be used as a check):

   # kill -s SEGV 
   

Once the corefile has been written make sure to deactivate the coredump settings again in the relating files (1./2./3.) !