Efficient On-Device Core Dump Processing for IoT: A Rusty Implementation
summary
Memfault ships a Rust core-handler that parses ELF cores, extracts PRSTATUS registers and proc maps, copies only program headers and build ID notes, and captures the top N bytes of each stack to produce a JSON of frame PCs. It uses Goblin, Gimly and Clap, parses .eh_frame to perform on-device unwinding, and then resolves addresses with debug infod. Resulting artifacts are ~35× smaller than a trimmed core and >1000× smaller than full cores, and retain symbol resolution without sending heap or locals (stacks only core dumps, PC-only traces).
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chapters (7)
- 0:00On-device core dump intro
- 2:07ELF core dumps explained
- 8:22C approach to core dumps
- 10:29Switching to Rust
- 14:40Shrinking core dumps
- 24:15Privacy and stack unwinding
- 36:56Conclusion trade-offs
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