What causes the message "elfcore: core dump failed for process" to be generated?

(Doc ID 1314947.1)

Last updated on DECEMBER 11, 2017

Applies to:

Solaris Operating System - Version 8 6/00 U1 and later
Information in this document applies to any platform.

Goal

What activity on a system causes the kernel warning (kern.warning) message "WARNING: elfcore: core dump failed for process <PID>; address space is changing" to be generated in the /var/adm/messages file?

This message is generated when a process has its executable code overwritten on disk by a new version.  One typical way for this to happen is when a developer creates a new binary of the application and installs it without ensuring that all of the processes using the previous version have exited.

Solution

Sign In with your My Oracle Support account

Don't have a My Oracle Support account? Click to get started

My Oracle Support provides customers with access to over a
Million Knowledge Articles and hundreds of Community platforms