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.TH "SYSTEMD\-COREDUMP" "8" "" "systemd 230" "systemd-coredump"
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.SH "NAME"
systemd-coredump, systemd-coredump.socket, systemd-coredump@.service \- Acquire, save and process core dumps
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.PP
/lib/systemd/systemd\-coredump
.PP
systemd\-coredump@\&.service
.PP
systemd\-coredump\&.socket
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.PP
\fBsystemd\-coredump\fR
is a system service that can acquire core dumps from the kernel and handle them in various ways\&.
.PP
Core dumps can be written to the journal or saved as a file\&. Once saved they can be retrieved for further processing, for example in
\fBgdb\fR(1)\&.
.PP
By default,
\fBsystemd\-coredump\fR
will log the core dump including a backtrace if possible to the journal and store the core dump itself in an external file in
/var/lib/systemd/coredump\&.
.PP
When the kernel invokes
\fBsystemd\-coredump\fR
to handle a core dump, it will connect to the socket created by the
systemd\-coredump\&.socket
unit, which in turn will spawn a
systemd\-coredump@\&.service
instance to process the core dump\&. Hence
systemd\-coredump\&.socket
and
systemd\-coredump@\&.service
are helper units which do the actual processing of core dumps and are subject to normal service management\&.
.PP
The behavior of a specific program upon reception of a signal is governed by a few factors which are described in detail in
\fBcore\fR(5)\&. In particular, the core dump will only be processed when the related resource limits are sufficient\&.
.SH "CONFIGURATION"
.PP
For programs started by
\fBsystemd\fR
process resource limits can be set by directive
\fILimitCore=\fR, see
\fBsystemd.exec\fR(5)\&.
.PP
In order to be used
\fBsystemd\-coredump\fR
must be configured in
\fBsysctl\fR(8)
parameter
\fIkernel\&.core_pattern\fR\&. The syntax of this parameter is explained in
\fBcore\fR(5)\&. Systemd installs the file
/usr/lib/sysctl\&.d/50\-coredump\&.conf
which configures
\fIkernel\&.core_pattern\fR
accordingly\&. This file may be masked or overridden to use a different setting following normal
\fBsysctl.d\fR(5)
rules\&. If the sysctl configuration is modified, it must be updated in the kernel before it takes effect, see
\fBsysctl\fR(8)
and
\fBsystemd-sysctl\fR(8)\&.
.PP
The behaviour of
\fBsystemd\-coredump\fR
itself is configured through the configuration file
/etc/systemd/coredump\&.conf
and corresponding snippets
/etc/systemd/coredump\&.conf\&.d/*\&.conf, see
\fBcoredump.conf\fR(5)\&. A new instance of
\fBsystemd\-coredump\fR
is invoked upon receiving every core dump\&. Therefore, changes in these files will take effect the next time a core dump is received\&.
.PP
Resources used by core dump files are restricted in two ways\&. Parameters like maximum size of acquired core dumps and files can be set in files
/etc/systemd/coredump\&.conf
and snippets mentioned above\&. In addition the storage time of core dump files is restricted by
\fBsystemd\-tmpfiles\fR, corresponding settings are by default in
/usr/lib/tmpfiles\&.d/systemd\&.conf\&.
.SH "USAGE"
.PP
Data stored in the journal can be viewed with
\fBjournalctl\fR(1)
as usual\&.
\fBcoredumpctl\fR(1)
can be used to retrieve saved core dumps independent of their location, to display information and to process them e\&.g\&. by passing to the GNU debugger (gdb)\&.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.PP
\fBcoredump.conf\fR(5),
\fBcoredumpctl\fR(1),
\fBsystemd-journald.service\fR(8),
\fBsystemd-tmpfiles\fR(8),
\fBcore\fR(5),
\fBsysctl.d\fR(5),
\fBsystemd-sysctl.service\fR(8)\&.