Issues with memory dumps and Single File App

[ppekrol]

Description

When dumps are being created on Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022 they cannot be always debugged correctly. Most of the time. This only happens when Single File App is being used. Here are my findings:

OS	Type	Behavior
W11	Mini	Works
W11	Triage	Does not work
W11	Heap	Works
W11	Full	Works
WS2022	Mini	Does not work
WS2022	Triage	Does not work
WS2022	Heap	Does not work
WS2022	Full	Works

Reproduction Steps

1. Create console app (.NET 8.0.8):

using System.Diagnostics;

using (var process = Process.GetCurrentProcess())
{
    Console.WriteLine($"PID: {process.Id}");
}

var mre = new ManualResetEvent(false);

var t = new Thread(() =>
{
    Thread.CurrentThread.Name = "Background Work";

    mre.WaitOne();
});

t.Start();

Console.WriteLine("Press any key to close...");
Console.ReadLine();

mre.Set();
t.Join();

Console.WriteLine("Done");

2. Publish dotnet publish -c Release /p:PublishSingleFile=true and run
3. dotnet-dump collect -p PID --type Triage
4. Open VS and click Debug with Managed Only
   
5. In that area we also found: https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/Parallel-Stacks-do-not-display-threads-f/10738338?port=1025&fsid=efce44a5-7c7a-474d-867d-c812b3de1d99

Expected behavior

Should work?

Actual behavior

Does not work

Regression?

No response

Known Workarounds

No response

Configuration

No response

Other information

No response

[ppekrol]

Forgot to add:

dotnet-dump --version
8.0.532401+d98406ff95be0a8398d4c403056c5705389665f3

[ppekrol]

Checked also Linux:

OS	Type	Behavior
Ubuntu 24.04	Mini	Does not work
Ubuntu 24.04	Triage	Does not work
Ubuntu 24.04	Heap	Does not work
Ubuntu 24.04	Full	Does not work

Not sure if the dumps are wrong, the file opens in VS without errors, but 'Debug Managed Code' throws an issue, or there is missing support for something in the VS?

[ppekrol]

In parallel we are testing same thing with dotnet publish -c Release /p:PublishSingleFile=false -r linux-x64 --self-contained and it works fine.

[tommcdon]

Hi @ppekrol, unfortunately only full dumps are supported for single file applications - please see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/diagnostics/collect-dumps-crash#types-of-mini-dumps. It should be possible to workaround this limitation by deploying the matching DAC next to the binary:

• Windows: mscordaccore.dll
• Linux: libmscordaccore.so
• macOS: libmscordaccore.dylib

Hope this helps!

[ppekrol]

Hi @tommcdon

We have tested your suggestion on WS2022 and Ubuntu 24.04 but it does not have any effect.

Situation is as follows:

OS	Type	Behavior
WS2022	Mini	Does not work
WS2022	Triage	Does not work
WS2022	Heap	Does not work
WS2022	Full	Works
Ubuntu 24.04	Mini	Does not work
Ubuntu 24.04	Triage	Does not work
Ubuntu 24.04	Heap	Does not work
Ubuntu 24.04	Full	Does not work

Which worries me for few reasons:

1. You stated that Full dumps should work, but they do not on Ubuntu 24.04
2. Taking a full dump in many situations is a killer, especially when you use mmap
3. All of those dumps can be opened in WinDBG, so the issue is in VS or in the dump file itself?

[tommcdon]

@hoyosjs @mikem8361