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28 .\" From: @(#)savecore.8 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/5/93
36 .Nd "save a core dump of the operating system"
50 .Op Ar directory Op Ar device ...
55 copies a core dump into
57 or the current working directory if no
60 and enters a reboot message and information about the core dump into
63 The options are as follows:
64 .Bl -tag -width ".Fl m Ar maxdumps"
68 in a selection of different human and machine readable formats.
71 for details on command line arguments.
73 Check to see if a dump exists,
74 and display a brief message to indicate the status.
75 An exit status of 0 indicates that a dump is there,
76 1 indicates that none exists.
77 This option is compatible only with the
81 Clear the dump, so that future invocations of
85 Force a dump to be taken even if either the dump was cleared or if the
86 dump header information is inconsistent.
88 Do not clear the dump after saving it.
90 Maximum number of dumps to store.
91 Once the number of stored dumps is equal to
93 the counter will restart from
96 Print out some additional debugging information.
97 Specify twice for more information.
99 Compress the core dump and kernel (see
106 looks for dumps on each device specified by the
108 argument(s), or on each device in
117 checks the core dump in various ways to make sure that it is complete.
118 If it passes these checks, it saves the core image in
119 .Ar directory Ns Pa /vmcore.#
120 and information about the core in
121 .Ar directory Ns Pa /info.# .
122 If the core is encrypted, it saves the dump key in
123 .Ar directory Ns Pa /key.# .
124 The core can be later decrypted using
126 For kernel textdumps generated with the
128 facility, output will be stored in the
131 .Ar directory Ns Pa /textdump.tar.# .
134 is the number from the first line of the file
135 .Ar directory Ns Pa /bounds ,
136 and it is incremented and stored back into the file each time
143 also checks the available disk space before attempting to make the copies.
144 If there is insufficient disk space in the file system containing
147 .Ar directory Ns Pa /minfree
148 exists and the number of free kilobytes (for non-superusers) in the
149 file system after the copies were made would be less than the number
150 in the first line of this file, the copies are not attempted.
154 successfully copies the kernel and the core dump, the core dump is cleared
155 so that future invocations of
162 is meant to be called near the end of the initialization file
170 .Xr xo_parse_args 3 ,
182 Support for kernel textdumps appeared in
185 The minfree code does not consider the effect of compression or sparse files.