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Date: Mon, 18 Dec 1995 16:00:11 -0700
From: kelly@fsl.noaa.gov (Sean Kelly)
Message-Id: <9512182300.AA02858@emu.fsl.noaa.gov>
To: terry@lambert.org
Cc: hlew@genome.stanford.edu, terry@lambert.org, questions@freebsd.org
In-Reply-To: <199512182105.OAA12378@phaeton.artisoft.com> (message from Terry Lambert on Mon, 18 Dec 1995 14:05:24 -0700 (MST))
Subject: Re: undump program
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>>>>> "Terry" == Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org> writes:

    Terry> Core dumps wouldn't be core dumps if they were runnable.

Well, perhaps.

    Terry> The big problem with a core dump is that the condition that
    Terry> caused the dump to occur exists in the state of the dump as
    Terry> an imminent problem after an undump.

Not necessarily: I could use gcore ... I could send SIGQUIT.  There is
precedence for this.  The old C-TeX installation went something like
the following:

	Make initex from source code
	Run initex and read the plain.tex format
	Hit CTRL+\ and get a core dump
	Run undump on the core file and call the output `tex'

You now have a fast executable called `tex' for the plain TeX
format---no reparsing the plain.tex file every time you wanted to
format your thesis.  Making LaTeX was similar.

    Terry> What is it you want?

I can't think of any other uses for undump'ing myself.

-- 
Sean Kelly
NOAA Forecast Systems Laboratory, Boulder Colorado USA

I stayed up all night playing poker with Tarot cards.  I got a full
house and four people died. -- Steven Wright