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Activating CrashReporter in OS X

Q: How can I get a dump of all active thread states at the time of an application crash?

A: When a crash occurs in Mac OS X (10.0.x), state information can be automatically output to the console by enabling the CrashReporter. This will cause the state of all active threads to be dumped to the console at the time of the application crash. This can be useful to debugging your application, or for submission of an Apple software defect through Bug Reporter.

To enable CrashReporter:

  1. Open Console (in /Applications/Utilities).
  2. Select Preferences... from the Application Menu.
  3. Select the Crashes tab.
  4. Check the Log crash information in... checkbox.

Now, when an application crashes, you should receive a confirmation for CrashReporter to write state information to the console. Choose "Yes", open the console window, and happy debugging!

If you have CrashReporter enabled, please include the information obtained from it when reporting an Apple software defect through Bug Reporter, as it could prove useful in investigating the problem.

[May 13 2002]

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