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BSDCRASHTAR(8)         DragonFly System Manager's Manual        BSDCRASHTAR(8)


NAME

     bsdcrashtar - archive kernel crash files


SYNOPSIS

     bsdcrashtar [options] [<crash.tar.gz>]


DESCRIPTION

     The bsdcrashtar utility creates tar a archive that contains all files
     needed for debugging FreeBSD kernel crash (vmcore, kernel, loaded
     modules, sources that appear in backtrace). This is useful for debugging
     a crash on another host, sending it to developers or if you are going to
     upgrade the kernel on crashed host but would like to keep crashdump in
     case the developers ask you to provide additional info.

     Created tar archive contains also a script that when being run inside
     unpacked archive will give kgdb(1) session with crash core loaded in it.
     The script should be run with root privileges because it does chroot(8)
     before starting kgdb(1).

     By default, bsdcrashtar archives the most recent core dump in the core
     dump directory. A specific core dump may be specified via either the core
     or dumpnr arguments.  Once bsdcrashtar has located a core dump, it
     analyzes the core dump to determine the exact version of the kernel that
     generated the core.  It then looks for a matching kernel file under each
     of the subdirectories in /boot.  The location of the kernel file can also
     be explicitly provided via the kernel argument. By default the resulting
     tar archived is stored in the core dump directory with a name
     crash.XX.tar.gz.

     The options are as follows:

     -h      Print the minihelp and exit.

     -d crashdir
             Specify an alternate core dump directory.  The default crash dump
             directory is /var/crash.

     -n dumpnr
             Use the core dump saved in vmcore.dumpnr instead of the latest
             core in the core dump directory.

     -k kernel
             Specify an explicit kernel file.

     -c core
             Specify an explicit core file.


WARNING

     As a core file presents a content of a kernel virtual memory at the
     moment of the crash it might contain information you would not like to
     become public. So think twice before giving the access to a core to other
     person.


LIMITATIONS

     You can debug an archived crash only on a host of the same hardware
     platform running FreeBSD of the same major version (abi compatible).


SEE ALSO

     crashinfo(8), savecore(8), textdump(4).


AUTHOR

     Mikolaj Golub.


BUGS

     As it is rather experimental utility and depends on proper parsing of
     gdb(1) output it is highly recommended to check created tar archive if
     you want to be sure it contains all necessary files.

DragonFly 6.5-DEVELOPMENT      October 17, 2009      DragonFly 6.5-DEVELOPMENT

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