Have you ever wondered if there was a way to get the Oracle Solaris Crash Analysis Tool to always run a set of commands when it starts?  And have you ever seen one user’s command output look different from the output printed when you run the same command? 

The SCATRC File

When the tool starts, it checks your home directory for a file named .scatrc.  If it finds one, it runs all the commands listed.  For example, here’s the author’s .scatrc:

export HISTFILE=.scathist$USER
alias less=more
set -o vi
scatenv human_readable on
alias ibase="base -i"
alias obase="base -o"
scatenv minsize 0x1000000
scatenv dis_synth_only on
scatenv dis_synth_cc on
scatenv dis_br_label on
scatenv stk_switch on
scatenv str_syncq on
scatenv str_data on
scatenv sym_size_full on
scatenv thr_stkdata off
scatenv thr_pri on
scatenv thr_lwp off
scatenv thr_cpu off
scatenv thr_age on
scatenv thr_syscall off
scatenv thr_flags off
scatenv table_whitespace off
scatenv scroll 0
color background light
alias cpuc=cpu | grep "cpu id"

As you can see, the purpose is to initialize Oracle Solaris Crash Analysis Tool with the settings I’m accustomed to using.  Given that the tool based on ksh, you can also set ksh environment settings, such as the editing mode, set ksh environment variables for later use, or create command aliases.

SCATENV

In the .scatrc, you see many settings made using the scatenv command which is used to query and change the settings of the environment settings used by the tool.  To see the complete list of settings available, simply issue the scatenv command with no options. Since the scatenv settings can be either boolean, a number value, or a
string, the variable type is provided in the command output.  Luckily, one can search for applicable settings using the -? option.  For example, to find all settings that involve threads, one would use:

 CAT(vmcore.0)> scatenv -? threads   
    Flag Name    Current  Type  Description
                 Setting        
    dispq_empty  on       on    When displaying dispatch queues, also show  
                                CPUs that have no threads in their dispatch 
                                queues.
    thr_age      on       on    Show age information when dumping threads  
    thr_cpu      off      on    Show CPU information when dumping threads
    thr_flags    off      on    Show flag information when dumping threads
    thr_idle     on       on    Show idle time when dumping threads
    thr_lwp      off      on    Show lwp information when dumping threads
    thr_pri      on       on    Show priority information when dumping threads
    thr_proc     on       on    Show process information when dumping threads
    thr_stime    off      on    Show t_stime when dumping threads.
    thr_stkdata  off      on    Show stack related information when dumping
    thr_syscall  off      on    Show syscall information when dumping threads
    thr_wchan    on       on    Show wchan information when dumping threads

 To set an environment flag, simply enter:

scatenv flag_name setting

where:

  • flag_name  – the name of the flag in question.
  • setting – the value to assign to the flag.