some files are being generated automatically

Discussion in 'Programming' started by Junaid, Sep 28, 2006.

  1. #1
    in the folders of my web hosting some files are automatically generated. these files are very heavy(30 to 60 MB) each file has name 'core.some number' eg core.11425 what are these files how can i get rid of making of these files plz help
     
    Junaid, Sep 28, 2006 IP
  2. mad4

    mad4 Peon

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    #2
    Maybe log files? Ask your host they can probably disable them.
     
    mad4, Sep 28, 2006 IP
  3. Junaid

    Junaid Peon

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    #3
    i asked from my web host Answer by webhost
    "These are dump files by the operating system caused by your web application."
     
    Junaid, Sep 28, 2006 IP
  4. TwistMyArm

    TwistMyArm Peon

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    #4
    So what sort of web application are you running that core dumps? The idea is that you can grab that core dump and load it into a debugger to determine what was going on at the time...

    I have to assume that your web apps are not in a scripting language... they must be C based or something, are they?
     
    TwistMyArm, Sep 28, 2006 IP
  5. clancey

    clancey Peon

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    #5
    TwistMyArm is correct. You really need to debug your programs to determine what part is causing it to crash with a core dump. The biggest problem with all programs is trying to read variables which have not been set or trying to stuff more data into a variable than it is designed to handle.

    If you have been coding in Perl and PHP and then get back into something like C it is easy to forget that bounds checking and garbage management is the responsibility of the programmer and not habdled automagically by the compiler or computer.

    You face two issues. One is the potential for the problem to be exploited by a malicious user and the other is that your hard dirve space will be filled by core dumps if your site gets unexpectedly busy and the same part of the program is being invoked time after time after time.
     
    clancey, Sep 28, 2006 IP
  6. jimrthy

    jimrthy Guest

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    #6
    And the other problem is that you're showing errors (probably 500) to your users, which just isn't very friendly.
     
    jimrthy, Sep 30, 2006 IP
  7. Junaid

    Junaid Peon

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    #7
    yes '500 Internal Server Error' is appearing to my users on somes page if any one can plz help me
     
    Junaid, Oct 16, 2006 IP
  8. jimrthy

    jimrthy Guest

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    #8
    I think you're going to have to break down and tell us some more details about your setup. Your back-end (CGI program, I'm guessing) is at least using something written in a low-level language like C. Whatever that piece is (although you may have other problems as well) is causing both those errors and the core files.

    It's not really something your host can help with...I'm surprised they're letting you do whatever you're doing. Odds are, you'll need to get into the gritty details with a programmer. Alternatively, whoever supplied you with the setup you're using now (be it an open source community project, or just whoever wrote it originally) would be a better bet.

    A core dump is similar to one of those errors in Windows where you get the message "Such-and-such application has performed an illegal operation and will be terminated. Click OK." I suppose it could also be a hacker who's trying to figure out how to take advantage of a security hole he's found.

    Then again, maybe it's no big deal...but I'd be panicking until I knew exactly what was going on.
     
    jimrthy, Oct 22, 2006 IP