I looked at some tools that allowed disassembly of binaries a while back and they were difficult to use, required some deep knowledge of the way programs operate at a machine code level and they were also difficult to obtain. Most used to crack open compiled code to allow reverse engineering.
Time move on and tools progress and improve.
I was hoping for some recommendations of current tools and methods for analysing binaries and hoping you'd give me some pointers if you have any experience. This obviously applies to (I am assuming) to any binary and not just one produced by VB6.
I am trying to reverse engineer a program, but I am doing it in the traditional way by analysing and copying functionality and then re-coding using entirely new code. I have the original author's permission to do so. I do NOT have the source and so I am having to evaluate what the program does and re-implement that in VB6.
In fact I have already done so and my job is nearly 98% complete with no show-stoppers. However, I would like to answer some questions regarding the implementation of the original binary, which language they used, did they use any external libraries?, timers, which APIs were used &c. I am not in a position to bombard the original author with questions.
None of this is being used for nefarious purposes, it is more of an intelligence building exercise as my product clone is now almost complete. During the process of building my program, the 'steamyDock' program that I have been mooting here from time to time, I have learnt a lot and it would be nice to know if the original builders used the same or similar methods and if they had to surmount the same problems. I'll never know without looking at the source, which is unavailable to me, so I thought I'd ask if there other methods of determining what is going on within a binary without looking at the source, by analysing the binary itself.
Any thoughts as to which tools I should try?
Edit: updated to clarify what I have and what I do not have.
Time move on and tools progress and improve.
I was hoping for some recommendations of current tools and methods for analysing binaries and hoping you'd give me some pointers if you have any experience. This obviously applies to (I am assuming) to any binary and not just one produced by VB6.
I am trying to reverse engineer a program, but I am doing it in the traditional way by analysing and copying functionality and then re-coding using entirely new code. I have the original author's permission to do so. I do NOT have the source and so I am having to evaluate what the program does and re-implement that in VB6.
In fact I have already done so and my job is nearly 98% complete with no show-stoppers. However, I would like to answer some questions regarding the implementation of the original binary, which language they used, did they use any external libraries?, timers, which APIs were used &c. I am not in a position to bombard the original author with questions.
None of this is being used for nefarious purposes, it is more of an intelligence building exercise as my product clone is now almost complete. During the process of building my program, the 'steamyDock' program that I have been mooting here from time to time, I have learnt a lot and it would be nice to know if the original builders used the same or similar methods and if they had to surmount the same problems. I'll never know without looking at the source, which is unavailable to me, so I thought I'd ask if there other methods of determining what is going on within a binary without looking at the source, by analysing the binary itself.
Any thoughts as to which tools I should try?
Edit: updated to clarify what I have and what I do not have.