Core Dump

Overview

How to use

Enable NuttX Core dump

Enable Kconfig

CONFIG_ELF=y                        /* Enable ELF */

CONFIG_ELF_COREDUMP=y               /* Enable ELF Coredump */

CONFIG_BOARD_COREDUMP_SYSLOG=y      /* Enable Board Coredump, if exceptions and assertions occur, */

CONFIG_SYSTEM_COREDUMP=y            /* Enable coredump in user command, which can capture the current
                                       state of one or all threads when the system is running, the
                                       output can be redirect to console or file */

CONFIG_BOARD_COREDUMP_COMPRESSION=y /* Default y, enable Coredump compression to
                                       reduce the size of the original core image */

CONFIG_BOARD_COREDUMP_FULL=y        /* Default y, save all task information */

Run Coredump on nsh (CONFIG_SYSTEM_COREDUMP=y)

Parameters of coredump tool

$ coredump <pid>        /* If pid is specified, coredump will only capture the thread with the
                           specified pid, otherwise all threads will be captured */

$ coredump <filename>   /* If filename is specified, then coredump will be output to the specified
                           file by default, otherwise it will be redirect in stdout stream */

Capture coredump from stdout

Save the print of the red frame part in the figure as file

$ cat elf.dump
[CPU0] [ 6] 5A5601013D03FF077F454C4601010100C0000304002800C00D003420036000070400053400200008200A4000000420030034C024200001D8092004E00200601A
...
[CPU0] [ 6] 401B018D37814720005A5601000800090100006000010000

Convert the dump file

If the core file is post-processed by lzf compress and hexdump stream, execute the coredump script (tools/coredump.py) to convert hex to binary and lzf decompression, If the -o parameter is not added in commandline, the output of <original file name>.core will be automatically generated:

$ ./nuttx/tools/coredump.py elf.dump
Core file conversion completed: elf.core

Analysis by gdb

After generating elf.core, combined with compiled nuttx.elf, you can view the call stack and related register information of all threads directly through gdb:

(NOTE: Toolchain version must be newer than 11.3)

$ prebuilts/gcc/linux/arm/bin/arm-none-eabi-gdb -c elf.core nuttx