Subject: Re: bug#12908: 24.3.50; file `emacs_backtrace.txt'?
From: Eli Zaretskii <[email-masked]>
To: Drew Adams <[email-masked]>
Cc: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2012 21:00:21 +0200
List-Id: <debbugs-submit.debbugs.gnu.org>

> From: "Drew Adams" <[email-masked]>
> Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2012 10:30:34 -0800
> 
> Still getting many crashes (every session), but now I notice that Emacs
> is creating a file `emacs_backtrace.txt' in the current directory (or
> perhaps it is in the dir in which Emacs was started?).

It's written in the current directory of the Emacs process, and only
if you click NO on the abort dialog.

> I looked in the Emacs manual, the Elisp manual, and NEWS for some
> information about this file, but found nothing (so there is a doc bug,
> at least).

Right, now fixed (revision 110913 on the trunk).

> What is the file for

It contains the call-stack backtrace, which could be used to find the
sequence of function calls that led to the crash.  Similar to what GDB
produces when you type "bt".

> how are users to use it

Users should include it with their bug reports.  If you have the
addr2line.exe program on your disk, you can produce a more readable
backtrace from these numbers, see the Emacs user manual for details.

> and control whether and where it is written

You can't.  It's always written in the current directory of the Emacs
process, which is normally a single directory determined by what your
desktop shortcut says.