Name
dump
Synopsis
dump label
During program execution, causes an immediate core
dump after code previous to it has already been executed.
Primarily, this is so that you can use the undump program to turn your core dump
into an executable binary after having initialized all your
variables at the beginning of the program. Please note that you
shouldn’t use dump( ) or
undump( ) with the availability
of the Perl Compiler (B modules) as part of your Perl
distribution. In addition, you’re unlikely to have success with
dump or undump on most modern Unix systems (that
support dynamic loading from libdl). dump arranges for the revived binary,
when run, to begin by executing a goto label (with all the restrictions
that goto suffers). Think of
the operation as a goto with an
intervening core dump and reincarnation. If
label is omitted, the function arranges
for the program to restart from the top. Note that any files
opened at the time of the dump will no longer be open when the
program is reincarnated. See also the -u
command-line switch.
As of Perl 5.8, dump is
now largely obsolete, partly because it’s difficult to convert a
core file into an executable, and because the real compiler
backends for generating portable bytecode and compilable C code
have superseded it. That’s why you should now invoke it as
"CORE::dump( )" if you don’t
want to be warned against a possible typo.
The undump program is not
available on all systems and may not be compatible with specific
ports of Perl.
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