Valgrind 3.3 - Advanced Debugging and Profiling for GNU/Linux applications by J. Seward, N. Nethercote, J. Weidendorfer and the Valgrind Development Team Paperback (6"x9"), 164 pages ISBN 0954612051 RRP £12.95 ($19.95) Get a printed copy>>>

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3.8 Handling of Signals

Valgrind has a fairly complete signal implementation. It should be able to cope with any POSIX-compliant use of signals.

If you're using signals in clever ways (for example, catching SIGSEGV, modifying page state and restarting the instruction), you're probably relying on precise exceptions. In this case, you will need to use ‘--vex-iropt-precise-memory-exns=yes’.

If your program dies as a result of a fatal core-dumping signal, Valgrind will generate its own core file (‘vgcore.NNNNN’) containing your program's state. You may use this core file for post-mortem debugging with gdb or similar. (Note: it will not generate a core if your core dump size limit is 0.) At the time of writing the core dumps do not include all the floating point register information.

In the unlikely event that Valgrind itself crashes, the operating system will create a core dump in the usual way.