/debug directory -- what is it?

[David A Higgen]

In article <901001113629.21202546 at FEDC06.FED.ORNL.GOV>, RUITERJR at FEDC06.FED.ORNL.GOV ("To Thine Own Self be True.") writes:
> Hello all, 
> 
>       What is the /debug directory for?  I've looked through the
> manuals and can't find anything on it.  Seems its taking up a rather
> large portion of our disk space, but I've never seem much of it used.
> 
>       Anyway I can reduce its space (or is this even desirable?) ?

Have you tried 'man debug'?   8-)

Actually I'm not sure if this finds it in releases earlier than 3.3 which you
may not be running yet.... try 'man dbg' if necessary. Meanwhile:

The /debug directory is a pseudo-filesystem used by dbx. The "files" you
see in it do not represent real files taking up disk space; they are 
representations of the address spaces of running processes. This gives
the debugger an easy way to access the text & data of processes it is working
on. The "size" of the /debug filesystem is just an indication of your 
machine's total available virtual space (real memory + swap).

You don't need to worry about its space, it is not using any disk blocks!


			Dave Higgen (daveh at xtenk.asd.sgi.com)