Description of problem: On a RHEL 7 system, /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern contains the text 'core'. The systemd coredump configuration file named 50-coredump.conf that re-writes kernel.core_pattern to '|/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-coredump %p %u %g %s %t %e' is not present with the systemd package shipped. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): # cat /etc/redhat-release Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 7.2 (Maipo) # yum info systemd Name : systemd Arch : x86_64 Version : 219 Release : 19.el7_2.7 Size : 21 M Repo : installed From repo : rhel-7-server-rpms How reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Provision a RHEL 7 system. 2. # cat /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern core 3. Run the following: # rpm -qil systemd | grep "50-coredump.conf" Actual results: Command from step 3 displayed nothing. Expected results: Command from step 3 displays the following: /usr/lib/sysctl.d/50-coredump.conf Additional info: Further analysis ---------------- I could see the following lines from systemd spec file downstream[1] as a reason for the absence of 50-coredump.conf: . . . # To avoid making life hard for Rawhide-using developers, don't package the # kernel.core_pattern setting until systemd-coredump is a part of an actual # systemd release and it's made clear how to get the core dumps out of the # journal. rm -f %{buildroot}%{_prefix}/lib/sysctl.d/50-coredump.conf . . . AFAIK, systemd-coredump is already part of a systemd release way back[2] and fedora's systemd spec file have been modified to include 50-coredump.conf from version 215 onwards[3]. <diff> . . . -Version: 214 -Release: 5%{?gitcommit:.git%{gitcommit}}%{?dist} +Version: 215 +Release: 1%{?gitcommit:.git%{gitcommit}}%{?dist} . . . -# Don't package the kernel.core_pattern, we need minidumps working before -# this can replace Fedora's current core dump handling. -rm -f %{buildroot}%{_prefix}/lib/sysctl.d/50-coredump.conf . . . +%{_prefix}/lib/sysctl.d/50-coredump.conf </diff> [1] http://pkgs.devel.redhat.com/cgit/rpms/systemd/tree/systemd.spec?h=rhel-7.2 [2] https://github.com/systemd/systemd/commit/f5e04665ebf7124f3ea17dcf258793ed73a95fe1 [3] http://pkgs.fedoraproject.org/cgit/rpms/systemd.git/diff/systemd.spec?h=f23&id=1298810b87cdb4bba22a04d84591692979f95eca
I don't think it would be wise to change the configuration of coredumps in the minor update of rhel.
Unfortunately now a RHEL7 install has a manpage systemd-coredump(8) stating the daemon would be used through /usr/lib/sysctl.d/50-coredump.conf but since that file is missing it is not. So apparently RHEL 7 ships systemd-coredump and can use it (if coredump files or ABRT are undesired), but it has to be configured manually through sysctl. The RHEL 7 System Administration Guide unfortunately does not cover this Question, only ABRT.