A binary recompiler is a
compiler
In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs tha ...
that takes
executable binary file
A binary file is a computer file that is not a text file. The term "binary file" is often used as a term meaning "non-text file". Many binary file formats contain parts that can be interpreted as text; for example, some computer document fil ...
s as input, analyzes their structure, applies transformations and optimizations, and outputs new optimized executable binaries.
The foundation to the concepts of binary recompilation were laid out by
Gary Kildall
Gary Arlen Kildall (; May 19, 1942 – July 11, 1994) was an American computer scientist and microcomputer entrepreneur.
During the 1970s, Kildall created the CP/M operating system among other operating systems and programming tools, an ...
with the development of the optimizing
assembly code translator
A source-to-source translator, source-to-source compiler (S2S compiler), transcompiler, or transpiler is a type of translator that takes the source code of a program written in a programming language as its input and produces an equivalent sou ...
XLT86
A source-to-source translator, source-to-source compiler (S2S compiler), transcompiler, or transpiler is a type of translator that takes the source code of a program written in a programming language as its input and produces an equivalent sou ...
in 1981.
See also
*
Binary optimizer
An object code optimizer, sometimes also known as a post pass optimizer or, for small sections of code, peephole optimizer, takes the output from a source language compile step - the object code or binary file - and tries to replace identifiabl ...
(binary-to-binary)
*
Binary translator
In computing, binary translation is a form of binary recompilation where sequences of instructions are translated from a ''source'' instruction set to the ''target'' instruction set. In some cases such as instruction set simulation, the target ...
(binary-to-binary)
*
Decompiler
A decompiler is a computer program that translates an executable file to a high-level source file which can be recompiled successfully. It does therefore the opposite of a typical compiler, which translates a high-level language to a low-level l ...
(binary-to-source)
*
Disassembler
A disassembler is a computer program that translates machine language into assembly language—the inverse operation to that of an assembler. A disassembler differs from a decompiler, which targets a high-level language rather than an assembly l ...
(binary-to-source)
*
Dynamic recompiler
In computer science, dynamic recompilation is a feature of some emulators and virtual machines, where the system may recompile some part of a program during execution. By compiling during execution, the system can tailor the generated code to ...
(binary-to-binary)
*
Transcompiler
A source-to-source translator, source-to-source compiler (S2S compiler), transcompiler, or transpiler is a type of translator that takes the source code of a program written in a programming language as its input and produces an equivalent so ...
(source-to-source)
*
Honeywell Liberator
The Honeywell 200 was a character-oriented two-address commercial computer introduced by Honeywell in December 1963, the basis of later models in Honeywell 200 Series, including 1200, 1250, 2200, 3200, 4200 and others, and the character processor ...
(running
IBM 1401
The IBM 1401 is a variable-wordlength decimal computer that was announced by IBM on October 5, 1959. The first member of the highly successful IBM 1400 series, it was aimed at replacing unit record equipment for processing data stored on pu ...
programs on
Honeywell H200
The Honeywell 200 was a character-oriented two-address commercial computer introduced by Honeywell in December 1963, the basis of later models in Honeywell 200 Series, including 1200, 1250, 2200, 3200, 4200 and others, and the character processor ...
)
References
Further reading
* {{cite journal , title=From hack to elaborate technique - A survey on binary rewriting , author-first1=Matthias , author-last1=Wenzl , author-first2=Georg , author-last2=Merzdovnik , author-first3=Johanna , author-last3=Ullrich , author-first4=Edgar R. , author-last4=Weippl , location=Vienna, Austria , journal=
ACM Computing Surveys , volume=52 , number=3 , id=Article 49 , date=June 2019 , orig-date=February 2019, November 2018, May 2018 , doi=10.1145/3316415 , pages=49:1–49:36 , url=https://publications.sba-research.org/publications/201906%20-%20GMerzdovnik%20-%20From%20hack%20to%20elaborate%20technique.pdf , access-date=2021-11-28 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115224807/https://publications.sba-research.org/publications/201906%20-%20GMerzdovnik%20-%20From%20hack%20to%20elaborate%20technique.pdf , archive-date=2021-01-15 (36 pages)
*
Compiler construction
Computer libraries