Android Tombstone Symbolication
Symbolicate the .NET runtime frames in an Android tombstone file.
Install
npx skills add dotnet/skills --skill android-tombstone-symbolication -g -a claude-code -y- Repository
- dotnet/skills5.8k
- Category
- Testing
- Updated
- 3d ago
- License
- MIT
- Context cost
- Mediumabout 1,844 tokens
- Runs scripts
- No, instructions only
What it does
Symbolicate the .NET runtime frames in an Android tombstone file. Extracts BuildIds and PC offsets from the native backtrace, downloads debug symbols from the Microsoft symbol server, and runs llvm-symbolizer to produce function names with source file and line numbers. USE FOR triaging a .NET MAUI or Mono Android app crash from a tombstone, resolving native backtrace frames in libmonosgen-2.0.so or libcoreclr.so to .NET runtime source code, or investigating SIGABRT, SIGSEGV, or other native signals originating from the .NET runtime on Android. DO NOT USE FOR pure Java/Kotlin crashes, managed .NET exceptions that are already captured in logcat, or iOS crash logs. INVOKES Symbolicate-Tombstone.ps1 script, llvm-symbolizer, Microsoft symbol server.
Android Tombstone .NET Symbolication
Resolves native backtrace frames from .NET Android app crashes (MAUI, Xamarin, Mono) to function names, source files, and line numbers using ELF BuildIds and Microsoft's symbol server.
Inputs: Tombstone file or logcat crash output, llvm-symbolizer (from Android NDK or any LLVM 14+ toolchain), internet access for symbol downloads.
Do not use when: The crash is a managed .NET exception (visible in logcat with a managed stack trace), the crashing library is not a .NET component (e.g., libart.so), or the tombstone is from iOS.
Workflow
Step 1: Parse the Tombstone Backtrace
Each backtrace frame has this format:
#NN pc OFFSET /path/to/library.so (optional_symbol+0xNN) (BuildId: HEXSTRING)
Extract: frame number, PC offset (hex, already library-relative), library name, and BuildId (32, 40 hex chars).
Symbolicate all threads by default (background threads like GC/finalizer often have useful .NET frames). The crashing thread's backtrace is listed first; additional threads appear after --- --- --- markers.
Format notes:
- The script auto-detects
#NN pcframe lines with or without abacktrace:header, and strips logcat timestamp/tag prefixes automatically. - Logcat-captured tombstones often omit BuildIds. Recover via
adb shell readelf -n, CI build artifacts, or the .NET runtime NuGet package. - GitHub issue pastes may mangle
#1 pcinto issue links, replaceorg/repo#N pcwith#N pcbefore saving to a file. - If the script fails to parse a format, fall back to manual extraction of
#NN pc OFFSET library.so (BuildId: HEX)tuples.
Step 2: Identify .NET Runtime Libraries
Filter frames to .NET runtime libraries:
