What is "the core file"?

Question

Reading about limits.conf : https://raazkumar.com/tutorials/linux/linux-security-limits-conf/

core – limits the core file size (KB)

"The core file size".

What is "The core file"?

Google just leads me to more manpages. SEO seems to be really bad.

Answer 1

A core file is described in the core(5) manual page:

$ man 5 core
NAME
       core - core dump file
DESCRIPTION
       The  default  action of certain signals is to cause a process to termi‐
       nate and produce a core dump file, a disk file containing an  image  of
       the  process's  memory  at  the time of termination.  This image can be
       used in a debugger (e.g., gdb(1)) to inspect the state of  the  program
       at  the  time  that it terminated.  A list of the signals which cause a
       process to dump core can be found in signal(7).

"The core file size" is the size of a core file.

Answer 2

We can say that "core file" is a memory dump or core dump file. It's created when an operating system or software fails or encounters a critical fault. Developers and system administrators can utilize this file to diagnose the cause of the failure as it contains a snapshot of the program's memory at the moment of the crash.

Here is the key points of core file

Memory Snapshot Debugging Tool Operating System Involvement Security Implications Analysis Tools Logging Configuration