Disassembling

Overview

There are all manner of ways to disassemble code compiled within Amiga binaries. You can run Amiga disassemblers either on an actual Amiga you own, or even on another platform like Windows, within an emulator like WinUAE. Disassemblers are even available natively on other platforms, able to read Amiga executable files, and familiar with the operating system and symbols associated with it.

Disassemblers

There are a wide range of possible tools that can be used for disassembling. Which one is most suitable really depends on the your needs.

  • Do you want to interactively disassemble a large project over multiple successive attempts?
  • Do you want to just take a quick look inside something?
  • Do you want to observe the way the code works when it is actually running?
  • Do you want to modify the loaded code and then jump into it?

Assembler Development Environments

If you want to step through code, reading and tracing the flow of the source code as it is being debugged, then these are most likely to be the tools for your needs. More advanced uses are also suitable, like alteration of in-memory instructions or data, and then direct invocation of code.

Tool Platform License Description
AsmOne Amiga Open Source ASM-One is a m68k/PPC assembler development environment for the Amiga. It consists of 5 main parts: an Assembler, a disassembler, an editor, a debugger and a monitor.

Command-line Disassemblers

If you just want to point a disassembler at something in order to get source code that you can most likely reassemble, then these are most likely to be the tools for your needs.

Tool Platform License Description
IRA Windows, Amiga, Unix Open Source A portable M68000/010/020/030/040 reassembler for AmigaOS hunk-format executables, libraries, devices and raw binary files. Reassembler means that IRA translates any executable or binary file into an assembler sourcecode that might immediately be translated back by an assembler.

Interactive Disassemblers

If you want to interactively disassemble a large project over multiple successive attempts, then these are most likely to be the tools for your needs.

Tool Platform License Description
ReSource Amiga Proprietary Whether you want to thoroughly analyse and deconstruct some code, or just walk around its code paths, this is generally the most desirable tool to choose.
IDA Pro Windows Proprietary While expensive, IDA Pro handles a wide range of file formats and platforms. It is also very extensible and can allow the user to automate tasks more flexibly than would otherwise be possible in other interactive disassemblers, like ReSource.

Other Information

Wiki References

External Links

Disassembler - Wikipedia entry for disassemblers.

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