What / why are core dump files created by WordPress

What / why are core dump files created by WordPress:

A couple of weeks after I launched Blog Designed (as the name suggests, it is a blog with posts and a linked list on design and WordPress), I noticed four ‘core’files named core.2801, core.4065 etc. The files seemed harmless, but had rather large size (several megabytes).

"A quick Google search turned up a lot of complicated pages explaining the problem, but none that could actually suggest a fix.

A web developer suggested that the core files were a result of lots of buffer being dumped. This is typical of excessive resource usage and/or error reporting. Core dumps contain reports of working memory of a software when it has crashed. In short, core dump files are caused by a crashing software component. Instead of trying to get rid of core files, you should worry about what caused these errors."

You can safely delete these files. Although there is GDB to open and analyze core files, not many would actually understand anything. WordPress is tested thoroughly before each release, hence it is unlikely a fault caused by WP.

Prevent core dump files

You can delete core files without any worry – it does not contain data useful to anyone but developers and hosting company itself.

The core dumps could also have been due to WP. The most usual cause of a core dump is because of running out of memory on your server – if you’re on a shared host, ask to be moved to a different node. If you’re on a VPS/Dedicated Server, up your memory a little and the problem should stop.

Going by the description of your problem, it seems that you’re running PHP as a CGI and not as a mod – it doesn’t have a direct bearing to the core dump issue though.