GCORE(1)

🌸 GCORE(1) — the gcore glow-up 💅

ok so real talk bestie: this is a page out of GNU Development Tools, and it's about gcore, aka the tool that takes a lil snapshot of a running program's whole soul without actually unaliving it. iconic behavior honestly 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

gcore — Generate a core file of a running program.

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

gcore [-v | --version] [-h | --help] [-a] [-o prefix] [-d directory]
      pid1 [pid2...pidN]

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

So here's the vibe: you give gcore one or more running programs' process IDs — pid1, pid2, etc. — and it generates core dumps for them. ✨

A core file produced by gcore is equivalent to one produced by the kernel when the process crashes (and when "ulimit -c" was used to set up an appropriate core dump limit). Same energy, same result. 🫶

But here's the main character twist: unlike after a crash, after gcore finishes its job the program remains running without any change. It doesn't get wrecked, it doesn't get stopped, it just keeps living its life. no cap. 🔥

🦋 OPTIONS 🦋

• -a — Dump all memory mappings. ngl the actual effect of this option depends on the Operating System, so don't @ me. On GNU/Linux, it will disable "use-coredump-filter" and enable "dump-excluded-mappings". 💀
• -o prefix — The optional argument prefix specifies the prefix to be used when composing the file names of the core dumps. The file name is composed as prefix.pid, where pid is the process ID of the running program being analyzed by gcore. If not specified, prefix defaults to core. ✨
• -d directory — Use directory as the data directory when invoking GDB for running the gcore command. This argument is optional. 🎀
• --help, -h — List all options, with brief explanations. your gurl loves a cheat sheet 💅
• --version, -v — Print version information and then exit. bye bestie 👋

🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

ok so this section is genuinely, actually empty. like, the manpage has the heading and then nothing. no environment variables listed. not a single one. it's giving "I have nothing to say" and honestly? respect the honesty. 🙈

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

The full documentation for GDB is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the "info" and "gdb" programs and GDB's Texinfo documentation are properly installed at your site, the command

info gdb

should give you access to the complete manual. 👑

Also on the reading list:

• Using GDB: A Guide to the GNU Source-Level Debugger, Richard M. Stallman and Roland H. Pesch, July 1991. a classic, we stan a vintage king 🧚

👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

Copyright (c) 1988-2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the Invariant Sections being "Free Software" and "Free Software Needs Free Documentation", with the Front-Cover Texts being "A GNU Manual," and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. 💖

(a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: "You are free to copy and modify this GNU Manual. Buying copies from GNU Press supports the FSF in developing GNU and promoting software freedom." @sp 1 Copyright (c) 2026, Intel Corporation. Intel's modifications are provided pursuant to the GNU Free Documentation license.

yes the @sp 1 is literally sitting there in the text, that's just how it is, we don't fix it, we respect it 🫡

anyway that's the whole page bestie, ily, go dump some cores responsibly 💜

so this glorious specimen of a manpage is gdb-17.1.2026.be1840694+, dated 2026-04-07, and it's the GCORE(1) page. periodt. 🎀✨🦋