Core file output directory, writeable directories and procfs

[stonee at Safe-mail.net]

What are the rules dictating where core files are output? Is there a way to setup an output directory? I know that a bash shell allow you to set a limit on the size, but that seems to be all. If they are output to an applications working directory, I might need to write an exec wrapper script such that all applications are running from designated directory.


The reason I ask is that I'm in the process of recreating my system and determining which directories on the system need to be set as writeable. So far, I'm setting allowing write access to:

/home
/tmp
/var

Also, I understand that the procfs provides additional information about the system's running processes. What are the benefits and disadvantages to using this file system? It appears that the FreeBSD 7.0 Release does not enable procfs by default. Why would someone want to enable this feature?

stonee