Dump collection and analysis utility (dotnet-dump)

This article applies to: ✔️ .NET Core 3.0 SDK and later versions

Note

dotnet-dump for macOS is only supported with .NET 5.0 and later versions.

Install

There are two ways to download and install dotnet-dump:

Note

To use dotnet-dump on an x86 app, you need a corresponding x86 version of the tool.

Synopsis

dotnet-dump [-h|--help] [--version] <command>

Description

The dotnet-dump global tool is a way to collect and analyze Windows and Linux dumps without any native debugger involved like lldb on Linux. This tool is important on platforms like Alpine Linux where a fully working lldb isn't available. The dotnet-dump tool allows you to run SOS commands to analyze crashes and the garbage collector (GC), but it isn't a native debugger so things like displaying native stack frames aren't supported.

Options

  • --version

    Displays the version of the dotnet-dump utility.

  • -h|--help

    Shows command-line help.

Commands

Command
dotnet-dump collect
dotnet-dump analyze

dotnet-dump collect

Captures a dump from a process.

Synopsis

dotnet-dump collect [-h|--help] [-p|--process-id] [-n|--name] [--type] [-o|--output] [--diag]

Options

  • -h|--help

    Shows command-line help.

  • -p|--process-id <PID>

    Specifies the process ID number to collect a dump from.

  • -n|--name <name>

    Specifies the name of the process to collect a dump from.

  • --type <Full|Heap|Mini>

    Specifies the dump type, which determines the kinds of information that are collected from the process. There are three types:

    • Full - The largest dump containing all memory including the module images.
    • Heap - A large and relatively comprehensive dump containing module lists, thread lists, all stacks, exception information, handle information, and all memory except for mapped images.
    • Mini - A small dump containing module lists, thread lists, exception information, and all stacks.

    If not specified, Full is the default.

  • -o|--output <output_dump_path>

    The full path and file name where the collected dump should be written.

    If not specified:

    • Defaults to .\dump_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.dmp on Windows.
    • Defaults to ./core_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS on Linux.

    YYYYMMDD is Year/Month/Day and HHMMSS is Hour/Minute/Second.

  • --diag

    Enables dump collection diagnostic logging.

Note

On Linux and macOS, this command expects the target application and dotnet-dump to share the same TMPDIR environment variable. Otherwise, the command will time out.

Note

To collect a dump using dotnet-dump, it needs to be run as the same user as the user running target process or as root. Otherwise, the tool will fail to establish a connection with the target process.

dotnet-dump analyze

Starts an interactive shell to explore a dump. The shell accepts various SOS commands.

Synopsis

dotnet-dump analyze <dump_path> [-h|--help] [-c|--command]

Arguments

  • <dump_path>

    Specifies the path to the dump file to analyze.

Options

  • -c|--command <debug_command>

    Specifies the command to run in the shell on start.

Analyze SOS commands

Command Function
soshelp Displays all available commands
soshelp|help <command> Displays the specified command.
exit|quit Exits interactive mode.
clrstack <arguments> Provides a stack trace of managed code only.
clrthreads <arguments> Lists the managed threads running.
dumpasync <arguments> Displays information about async state machines on the garbage-collected heap.
dumpassembly <arguments> Displays details about the assembly at the specified address.
dumpclass <arguments> Displays information about the EEClass structure at the specified address.
dumpdelegate <arguments> Displays information about the delegate at the specified address.
dumpdomain <arguments> Displays information all the AppDomains and all assemblies within the specified domain.
dumpheap <arguments> Displays info about the garbage-collected heap and collection statistics about objects.
dumpil <arguments> Displays the Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL) that is associated with a managed method.
dumplog <arguments> Writes the contents of an in-memory stress log to the specified file.
dumpmd <arguments> Displays information about the MethodDesc structure at the specified address.
dumpmodule <arguments> Displays information about the module at the specified address.
dumpmt <arguments> Displays information about the MethodTable at the specified address.
dumpobj <arguments> Displays info about the object at the specified address.
dso|dumpstackobjects <arguments> Displays all managed objects found within the bounds of the current stack.
eeheap <arguments> Displays info about process memory consumed by internal runtime data structures.
finalizequeue <arguments> Displays all objects registered for finalization.
gcroot <arguments> Displays info about references (or roots) to the object at the specified address.
gcwhere <arguments> Displays the location in the GC heap of the argument passed in.
ip2md <arguments> Displays the MethodDesc structure at the specified address in JIT code.
histclear <arguments> Releases any resources used by the family of hist* commands.
histinit <arguments> Initializes the SOS structures from the stress log saved in the debuggee.
histobj <arguments> Displays the garbage collection stress log relocations related to <arguments>.
histobjfind <arguments> Displays all the log entries that reference the object at the specified address.
histroot <arguments> Displays information related to both promotions and relocations of the specified root.
lm|modules Displays the native modules in the process.
name2ee <arguments> Displays the MethodTable and EEClass structures for the <argument>.
pe|printexception <arguments> Displays any object derived from the Exception class for the <argument>.
setsymbolserver <arguments> Enables the symbol server support
syncblk <arguments> Displays the SyncBlock holder info.
threads|setthread <threadid> Sets or displays the current thread ID for the SOS commands.

Note

Additional details can be found in SOS Debugging Extension for .NET.

Using dotnet-dump

The first step is to collect a dump. This step can be skipped if a core dump has already been generated. The operating system or the .NET Core runtime's built-in dump generation feature can each create core dumps.

$ dotnet-dump collect --process-id 1902
Writing minidump to file ./core_20190226_135837
Written 98983936 bytes (24166 pages) to core file
Complete

Now analyze the core dump with the analyze command:

$ dotnet-dump analyze ./core_20190226_135850
Loading core dump: ./core_20190226_135850
Ready to process analysis commands. Type 'help' to list available commands or 'help [command]' to get detailed help on a command.
Type 'quit' or 'exit' to exit the session.
>

This action brings up an interactive session that accepts commands like:

> clrstack
OS Thread Id: 0x573d (0)
    Child SP               IP Call Site
00007FFD28B42C58 00007fb22c1a8ed9 [HelperMethodFrame_PROTECTOBJ: 00007ffd28b42c58] System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeMethod(System.Object, System.Object[], System.Signature, Boolean, Boolean)
00007FFD28B42DD0 00007FB1B1334F67 System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(System.Object, System.Reflection.BindingFlags, System.Reflection.Binder, System.Object[], System.Globalization.CultureInfo) [/root/coreclr/src/mscorlib/src/System/Reflection/RuntimeMethodInfo.cs @ 472]
00007FFD28B42E20 00007FB1B18D33ED SymbolTestApp.Program.Foo4(System.String) [/home/mikem/builds/SymbolTestApp/SymbolTestApp/SymbolTestApp.cs @ 54]
00007FFD28B42ED0 00007FB1B18D2FC4 SymbolTestApp.Program.Foo2(Int32, System.String) [/home/mikem/builds/SymbolTestApp/SymbolTestApp/SymbolTestApp.cs @ 29]
00007FFD28B42F00 00007FB1B18D2F5A SymbolTestApp.Program.Foo1(Int32, System.String) [/home/mikem/builds/SymbolTestApp/SymbolTestApp/SymbolTestApp.cs @ 24]
00007FFD28B42F30 00007FB1B18D168E SymbolTestApp.Program.Main(System.String[]) [/home/mikem/builds/SymbolTestApp/SymbolTestApp/SymbolTestApp.cs @ 19]
00007FFD28B43210 00007fb22aa9cedf [GCFrame: 00007ffd28b43210]
00007FFD28B43610 00007fb22aa9cedf [GCFrame: 00007ffd28b43610]

To see an unhandled exception that killed your app:

> pe -lines
Exception object: 00007fb18c038590
Exception type:   System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException
Message:          Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.
InnerException:   System.Exception, Use !PrintException 00007FB18C038368 to see more.
StackTrace (generated):
SP               IP               Function
00007FFD28B42DD0 0000000000000000 System.Private.CoreLib.dll!System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeMethod(System.Object, System.Object[], System.Signature, Boolean, Boolean)
00007FFD28B42DD0 00007FB1B1334F67 System.Private.CoreLib.dll!System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(System.Object, System.Reflection.BindingFlags, System.Reflection.Binder, System.Object[], System.Globalization.CultureInfo)+0xa7 [/root/coreclr/src/mscorlib/src/System/Reflection/RuntimeMethodInfo.cs @ 472]
00007FFD28B42E20 00007FB1B18D33ED SymbolTestApp.dll!SymbolTestApp.Program.Foo4(System.String)+0x15d [/home/mikem/builds/SymbolTestApp/SymbolTestApp/SymbolTestApp.cs @ 54]
00007FFD28B42ED0 00007FB1B18D2FC4 SymbolTestApp.dll!SymbolTestApp.Program.Foo2(Int32, System.String)+0x34 [/home/mikem/builds/SymbolTestApp/SymbolTestApp/SymbolTestApp.cs @ 29]
00007FFD28B42F00 00007FB1B18D2F5A SymbolTestApp.dll!SymbolTestApp.Program.Foo1(Int32, System.String)+0x3a [/home/mikem/builds/SymbolTestApp/SymbolTestApp/SymbolTestApp.cs @ 24]
00007FFD28B42F30 00007FB1B18D168E SymbolTestApp.dll!SymbolTestApp.Program.Main(System.String[])+0x6e [/home/mikem/builds/SymbolTestApp/SymbolTestApp/SymbolTestApp.cs @ 19]

StackTraceString: <none>
HResult: 80131604

Special instructions for Docker

If you're running under Docker, dump collection requires SYS_PTRACE capabilities (--cap-add=SYS_PTRACE or --privileged).

On Microsoft .NET Core SDK Linux Docker images, some dotnet-dump commands can throw the following exception:

Unhandled exception: System.DllNotFoundException: Unable to load shared library 'libdl.so' or one of its dependencies' exception.

To work around this problem, install the "libc6-dev" package.

See also