Unix / FreeBSD question

We moved from Red Hat to FreeBSD few months ago and we really like FreeBSD now for many reasons.

Nevertheless, FreeBSD tricked us badly... Let me explain.

We are running a software and after awhile, it was crashing because it ate all available memory. Then we though that there was a memory leak somewhere and we searched for it for awhile but then we realized that unix (or FreeBSD, I got no clue) was generating a .core and was keeping the software alive until there was no memory left.

Now, I am just wondering, what is that feature exactly and why is it there? Any reasons? I mean, I know it can be practical but the software will crash anyway once all available memory will be consumed so what is the real use of it? Does the software can be restarted while the .core is running and once it is started, the .core will drop? I doubt it but maybe I am wrong?

Thanks much!

 

 

 

 

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