How to set the core dump file location (and name)?

To set location of core dumps in CentOS 6 you can edit /etc/sysctl.conf. For example if you want core dumps in /var/crash:

kernel.core_pattern = /var/crash/core-%e-%s-%u-%g-%p-%t

Where variables are:

%e is the filename
%g is the gid the process was running under
%p is the pid of the process
%s is the signal that caused the dump
%t is the time the dump occurred
%u is the uid the process was running under

Also you have to add /etc/sysconfig/init

DAEMON_COREFILE_LIMIT='unlimited'

Now apply new changes:

$ sysctl -p

But there is a caveat whit this way. If the kernel parameter kernel.core_pattern is always reset and overwritten at reboot to the following configuration even when a value is manually specified in /etc/sysctl.conf:

|/usr/libexec/abrt-hook-ccpp %s %c %p %u %g %t e

In short when abrtd.service starts kernel.core_pattern is overwritten automatically by the system installed abrt-addon-ccpp. There are two ways to resolve this:

1. Setting DumpLocation option in the /etc/abrt/abrt.conf configuration file. The destination directory can be specified by setting DumpLocation = /var/crash in the /etc/abrt/abrt.conf configuration file, and sysctl kernel.core_pattern's displayed value is a same but actually core file will be created to the directory under /var/crash.

   Also if you have SELinux enabled you have to run:

   $ semanage fcontext -a -t public_content_rw_t "/var/crash(/.*)?"  
   $ setsebool -P abrt_anon_write 1
   

   And finally restart abrtd.service:

   $ service abrtd.service restart
   

2. Stop abrtd service. kernel.core_pattern will not be overwritten. - (I've never tested).