Can I set my core file location without being root?

Question

It seems strange that I need to be root in order to say "place cores in my current directory" (via cat whatever /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern). Isn't there any user-specific override for this?

Answer 1

On my node:

 ll /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern 
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar  1 21:32 /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern

It is only writable by root.

Also

chmod 666 /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern 
chmod: changing permissions of `/proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern': Operation not permitted

So I think you may not be able to override it.

Answer 2

Here (Fedora 23) it is hooked up to pipe the core file to report crashes automatically via abrt. Mangle at your own risk.