You're on call. A production C++ service just crashed — no logs, no stack trace, just a dead process and maybe a core file. This guide gives you a clear, repeatable workflow to diagnose any crash, even when you're missing debug symbols or working with a stripped legacy binary. Whether you have a core file, a symbol file, an unstripped build, or nothing at all, you will always know the next step. Why This Matters Debugging crashes in legacy C++ systems is notoriously difficult because: Deployments often strip symbols Core dumps are disabled in production Build IDs don’t match ASLR shifts memory layouts Frame pointers are omitted Systemd overrides ulimit settings This workflow eliminates guesswork and gives you a deterministic path from crash to root cause . Crash Debugging Decision Map CRASH | v HAVE CORE FILE? |-- No --> Enable cores (Path B) → Reproduce crash | |-- Yes (Path A) | v HAVE DEBUG SYMBOLS? |-- Yes --> Debug now (A4) | |-- No | v HAVE SYMBOL FILE?…