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SIGABRT (Signal 6): Meaning, Exit Code 134 & Fix

SIGABRT is Unix signal 6. A process terminated by it reports exit code 134 (128 + 6).

SIGABRT is raised by abort(), typically from a failed assertion or a fatal runtime error. When it kills a process, the shell reports exit code 134 - the 128 + signal-number convention.

What it means

A C/C++ assertion, glibc heap-corruption detection, C++ std::terminate, or a runtime panic configured to abort.

When it happens in CI

  • glibc detected heap corruption ("free(): invalid pointer").
  • A failed assert().
  • An unhandled C++ exception → std::terminate.

How to handle it

Read stderr above the abort for the specific message; this is a real bug, not a transient failure. Reproduce with debug symbols.

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