November 3, 2024

Sun 3/80 -- Tools for disassembly and binary analysis

Maybe I am old school, but my tool is objdump from gcc binutils. I take the raw binary readout of the rom, use a tool I wrote to "wrap" it into an elf file, then run objdump on that as a single pass "sweep" disassembler, then clean up the mess.

This requires an iterative approach as I discover blocks of binary information, strings, misaligned sections that were not properly disassembled. I have worked up some helper tools that I use in conjunction with hooks in my vimrc to make this less crazy.

I have used binary ninja on ARM projects and it is quite amazing. I wish it was freely available for m68k, but it isn't. I appreciate that I can use it for free on ARM.

I have contemplated making my own tool. It would show me the disassembly, but make every address work like a hyperlink and I would go from there adding features. It would be a fun project to work up, but I probably won't.

And then there are tools I have heard about but have yet to try:

Maybe someday.