History Of Decompilation 1

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History of Decompilation (1960-1979)

Decompilers have been written for a variety of applications since the development of the first compilers. The very first decompiler was written by Joel Donnelly in 1960 at the Naval Electronic Labs to decompile machine code to Neliac on a Remington Rand Univac M-460 Countess computer. The project was supervised by Professor Maurice Halstead, who worked on decompilation during the 1960s and 70s, and published techniques which form the basis for today's decompilers. It is for this reason that we dedicate this page to the memory of Prof Maurice Halstead and award him the title of Father of Decompilation

Throughout the last decades, different uses have been given to decompilers. In the 1960s, decompilers were used to aid in the program conversion process from second to third generation computers; in this way, manpower would not be spent in the time-consuming task of rewriting programs for the third generation machines. During the 70s and 80s, decompilers were used for the portability of programs, documentation, debugging, re-creation of lost source code, and the modification of existing binaries. In the 90s, decompilers have become a reverse engineering tool capable of helping the user with such tasks as checking software for the existence of malicious code, checking that a compiler generates the right code, translation of binary programs from one machine to another, and understading of the implementation of a particular library function.

The following descriptions illustrate the best-known decompilers and/or research performed into decompiler topics by individual researchers or companies. Most of these descriptions first appeared in Cristina Cifuentes PhD thesis Reverse Compilation Techniques. They are reproduced herein with permission from the author.

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D-Neliac decompiler, 1960

As reported by Halstead in [ Hals62 ], the Donnelly-Neliac (D-Neliac) decompiler was produced by J.K.Donnelly and H.Englander at the Navy Electronics Laboratory (NEL) in 1960. Neliac is an Algol-type language developed at the NEL in 1955. The D-Neliac decompiler produced Neliac code from machine code programs; different versions were written for the Remington Rand Univac M-460 Countess computer and the Control Data Corporation 1604 computer. See also NeliacDecompiler

D-Neliac proved useful for converting non-Neliac compiled programs into Neliac, and for detecting logic errors in the original high-level program. This decompiler proved the feasibility of writing decompilers.

The Lockheed Neliac Decompiler, 1963-7

The Lockheed decompiler, also known as the IBM 7094 to Univac 1108 Neliac Decompiler helped in the migration of scientific applications from the IBM 7094 to the newer Univac 1108 at Lockheed Missiles and Space. Binary card images were translated to Univac 1108 Neliac, as well as assembly code (if available). Binary code was produced from Fortran applications. As reported in [Hals70].

Halstead analyzed the implementation effort required to raise the percentage of correctly decompiled instructions half way to 100%, and found that it was approximately equal to the effort already spent [ Hals70 ]. This was because decompilers from that time handled straightforward cases, but the harder cases were left for the programmer to consider. In order to handle more cases, more time was required to code these special cases into the decompiler, and this time was proportionately greater than the time required to code simple cases.

W.Sassaman, 1966

Sassaman developed a decompiler at TRW Inc., to aid in the conversion process of programs from 2nd to 3rd generation computers. This decompiler took as input symbolic assembler programs for the IBM 7000 series and produced Fortran programs. Binary code was not chosen as input language because the information in the symbolic assembler was more useful. Fortran was a standard language in the 1960s and ran on both 2nd and 3rd generation computers. Engineering applications which involved algebraic algorithms were the type of programs decompiled. The user was required to define rules for the recognition of subroutines. The decompiler was 90% accurate, and some manual intervention was required [ Sass66 ].

This decompiler makes use of assembler input programs rather than pure binary code. Assembler programs contain useful information in the form of names, macros, data and instructions, which are not available in binary or executable programs, and therefore eliminate the problem of separating data from instructions in the parsing phase of a decompiler.

Autocoder to Cobol Conversion Aid Program, 1967

Housel reported on a set of commercial decompilers developed by IBM to translate Autocoder programs, which were business data processing oriented, to Cobol. The translation was a one-to-one mapping and therefore manual optimization was required. The size of the final programs occupied 2.1 times the core storage of the original program [ Hous73 ].

This decompiler is really a translation tool of one language to another. No attempt is made to analyze the program and reduce the number of instructions generated. Inefficient code was produced in general.

The Inverse Compiler, 1972-6

The Inverse compiler, also known as the Sperry*Univac 494 to 1100 inverse compiler, was developed at Univac to aid in the migration to newer machines, including business applications (i.e. decompilation to COBOL ). This decompiler was based on the Lockheed Neliac decompiler.

C.R.Hollander, 1973

Hollander's PhD dissertation [ Holl73 ] describes a decompiler designed around a formal syntax-oriented metalanguage, and consisting of 5 cooperating sequential processes; initializer, scanner, parser, constructor, and generator; each implemented as an interpreter of sets of metarules. The decompiler was a metasystem that defined its operations by implementing interpreters.

The initializer loads the program and converts it into an internal representation. The scanner interacts with the initializer when finding the fields of an instruction, and interacts with the parser when matching source code templates against instructions. The parser establishes the correspondence between syntactic phrases in the source language and their semantic equivalents in the target language. Finally, the constructor and generator generate code for the final program.

An experimental decompiler was implemented to translate a subset of IBM's System/360 assembler into an Algol-like target language. This decompiler was written in Algol-W, a compiler developed at Stanford University, and worked correctly on the 10 programs it was tested against.

This work presents a novel approach to decompilation, by means of a formal syntax-oriented metalanguage, but its main drawback is precisely this methodology, which is equivalent to a pattern-matching operation of assembler instructions into high-level instructions. This limits the amount of assembler instructions that can be decompiled, as instructions that belong to a pattern need to be in a particular order to be recognized; intermediate instructions, different control flow patterns, or optimized code is not allowed. In order for syntax-oriented decompilers to work, the set of all possible patterns would need to be enumerated for each high-level instruction of each different compiler. Another approach would be to write a decompiler for a specific compiler, and make use of the specifications of that compiler; this approach is only possible if the compiler writer is willing to reveal the specifications of his compiler. It appears that Hollander's decompiler worked because the compiler specifications for the Algol-W compiler that he was using were known, as this compiler was written at the University where he was doing this research. The set of assembler instructions generated for a particular Algol-W instruction were known in this case.

B.C.Housel, 1973

Housel's PhD dissertation [ Hous73 ] describes a clear approach to decompilation by borrowing concepts from compiler, graph, and optimization theory. His decompiler involves 3 major phases: partial assembly, analyzer, and code generation.

The partial assembly phase separates data from instructions, builds a control flow graph, and generates an intermediate representation of the program. The analyzer analyzes the program in order to detect program loops and eliminate unnecessary intermediate instructions. Finally, the code generator optimizes the translation of arithmetic expressions, and generates code for the target language.

An experimental decompiler was written for Knuth's MIX assembler (MIXAL), producing PL/1 code for the IBM 370 machines. 6 programs were tested, 88% of the generated statements were correct, and the remaining 12% required manual intervention [ Hous73b HH74 ].

Housel made a real attempt at a general decompiler design, although his experimental decompiler was time constrained (completed in about 5 person-months). He describes a series of mappings (transformations) to a "Final Abstract Representation" and back again [ HH74 ]. The experimental decompiler was extended in Friedman's work

This decompiler proved that by using known compiler and graph methods, a decompiler could be written that produced good high-level code. The use of an intermediate representation made the analysis completely machine independent. The main objection to this methodology is the choice of source language, MIX assembler, not only for the greater amount of information available in these programs, but for being a simplified non-real-life assembler language.

The Piler System, 1974

Barbe's Piler system attempts to be a general decompiler that translates a large class of source--target language pairs to help in the automatic translation of computer programs. The Piler system was composed of three phases: interpretation, analysis, and conversion. In this way, different interpreters could be written for different source machine languages, and different converters could be written for different target high-level languages, making it simple to write decompilers for different source--target language pairs. Other uses for this decompiler included documentation, debugging aid, and evaluation of the code generated by a compiler.

During interpretation, the source machine program was loaded into memory, parsed and converted into a 3-address microform representation. This meant that each machine instruction required one or more microform instructions. The analyzer determined the logical structure of the program by means of data flow analysis, and modified the microform representation to an intermediate representation. A flowchart of the program after this analysis was made available to users, and they could even modify the flowchart, if there were any errors, on behalf of the decompiler. Finally, the converter generated code for the target high-level language [ Barb74 ].

Although the Piler system attempted to be a general decompiler, only an interpreter for machine language of the GE/Honeywell 600 computer was written, and skeletal converters for Univac 1108's Fortran and Cobol were developed. The main effort of this project concentrated on the analyzer. See also PilerSystem

The Piler system was a first attempt at a general decompiler for a large class of source and target languages. Its main problem was to attempt to be general enough with the use of a microform representation, which was even lower-level than an assembler-type representation.

F.L.Friedman, 1974

Friedman's PhD dissertation describes a decompiler used for the transfer of mini-computer operating systems within the same architectural class [ Frie74 ]. Four main phases are described: pre-processor, decompiler, code generator, and compiler.

The pre-processor converts assembler code into a standard form (descriptive assembler language). The decompiler takes the standard assembler form, analyses it, and decompiles it into an internal representation, from which FRECL code is then generated by the code generator. Finally, a FRECL compiler compiles this program into machine code for another machine. FRECL is a high-level language for program transport and development; it was developed by Friedman, who also wrote a compiler for it. The decompiler used in this project was an adaptation of Housel's decompiler [ Hous73 ].

Two experiments were performed; the first one involved the transport of a small but self-contained portion of the IBM 1130 Disk Monitor System to Microdata 1600/21; up to 33% manual intervention was required on the input assembler programs. Overall, the amount of effort required to prepare the code for input to the transport system was too great to be completed in a reasonable amount of time; therefore, a second experiment was conducted. The second experiment decompiled Microdata 1621 operating system programs into FRECL and compiled them back again into Microdata 1621 machine code. Some of the resultant programs were re-inserted into the operating system and tested. On average, only 2% of the input assembler instructions required manual intervention, but the final machine program had a 194% increase in the number of machine instructions. See also [ FS73 ].

This dissertation is a first attempt at decompiling operating system code, and it illustrates the difficulties faced by the decompiler when decompiling machine-dependent code. Input programs to this transport system require a large amount of effort to be presented in the format required by the system, and the final produced programs appear to be inefficient; both in the size of the program and the time to execute many more machine instructions.

Ultrasystems, 1974

Hopwood reported on a decompilation project at Ultrasystems, Inc., in which he was a consultant for the design of the system [ Hopw78 ]. This decompiler was to be used as a documentation tool for the Trident submarine fire control software system. It took as input Trident assembler programs, and produced programs in the Trident High-Level Language (THLL) that was being developed at this company. Four main stages were distinguished: normalization, analysis, expression condensation, and code generation.

The input assembler programs were normalized so that data areas were distinguished with pseudo-instructions. An intermediate representation was generated, and the data analyzed. Arithmetic and logical expressions were built during a process of expression condensation, and finally, the output high-level language program was generated by matching control structures to those available in THLL.

This project attempts to document assembler programs by converting them into high-level language. The fact is, given the time constraints of the project, the expression condensation phase was not coded, and therefore the output programs were hard to read, as several instructions were required for a single expression.

V.Schneider and G.Winiger, 1974

Schneider and Winiger presented a notation for specifying the compilation and decompilation of high-level languages. By defining a context-free grammar for the compilation process (i.e. describe all possible 2-address object code produced from expressions and assignments), the paper shows how this grammar can be inverted to decompile the object code into the original source program [ Schn74 ]. Even more, an ambiguous compilation grammar will produce optimal object code, and will generate an unambiguous decompilation grammar. A case study showed that the object code produced by the Algol 60 constructs could not be decompiled deterministically. This work was part of a future decompiler, but further references in the literature about this work were not found.

This work presents, in a different way, a syntax-oriented decompiler [ Holl73 ]; that is, a decompiler that uses pattern matching of a series of object instructions to reconstruct the original source program. In this case, the compilation grammar needs to be known in order to invert the grammar and generate a decompilation grammar. Note that no optimization is possible if it is not defined as part of the compilation grammar.

L Peter Deutsch 1977-1979

L. Peter Deutsch, using technology derived from his Ph.D thesis ("An Interactive Program Verifier", U.C. Berkeley, 1973), built a very small-scale instruction-set-retargetable decompiler (RMICRO) in Lisp at Xerox PARC. It was able to decompile binary code in 4 instruction sets (two microcodes, one minicomputer, and one bytecoded) into a C-like language, using Baker's algorithm (Journal of the ACM , January 1977) to convert flowgraphs into if/while constructs. It never worked very well, and was not eveloped further. Peter is known for work on Lisp systems in the '70s, and later work on Ghostscript and just-in-time compilation for Smalltalk.

Decompilation of Polish code, 1977, 1981, 1988

Two papers in the area of decompilation of Polish code into Basic code are found in the literature. The problem arises in connection with highly interactive systems, where a fast response is required to every input from the user. The user's program is kept in an intermediate form, and then ``decompiled'' each time a command is issued. An algorithm for the translation of reverse Polish notation to expressions is given in [ Balb79 ].

The second paper presents the process of decompilation as a two step problem: the need to convert machine code to Polish representation, and the conversion of Polish code to source form. The paper concentrates on the second step of the decompilation problem, but yet claims to be decompiling Polish code to Basic code by means of a context-free grammar for Polish notation and a left-to-right or right-to-left parsing scheme [ Bert81 ].

This technique was recently used in a decompiler that converted reverse Polish code into spreadsheet expressions [ May88 ]. In this case, the programmers of a product that included a spreadsheet-like component wanted to speed up the product by storing user's expressions in a compiled form, reverse Polish notation in this case, and decompile these expressions whenever the user wanted to see or modify them. Parentheses were left as part of the reverse Polish notation to reconstruct the exact same expression the user had input to the system.

The use of the word decompilation in this sense is a misuse of the term. All that is being presented in these papers is a method for re-constructing or deparsing the original expression (written in Basic or Spreadsheet expressions) given an intermediate Polish representation of a program. In the case of the Polish to Basic translators, no explanation is given as to how to arrive at such an intermediate representation given a machine program.

G.L.Hopwood, 1978

Hopwood's PhD dissertation [ Hopw78 ] describes a 7-step decompiler designed for the purposes of transferability and documentation. It is stated that the decompilation process can be aided by manual intervention or other external information.

The input program to the decompiler is formatted by a preprocessor, then loaded into memory, and a control flow graph of the program is built. The nodes of this graph represent one instruction. After constructing the graph, control patterns are recognized, and instructions that generate a goto statement are eliminated by the use of either node splitting or the introduction of synthetic variables. The source program is then translated into an intermediate machine independent code, and analysis of variable usage is performed on this representation in order to find expressions and eliminate unnecessary variables by a method of forward substitution. Finally, code is generated for each intermediate instruction, functions are implemented to represent operations not supported by the target language, and comments are provided. Manual intervention was required to prepare the input data, provide additional information that the decompiler needed during the translation process, and to make modifications to the target program.

An experimental decompiler was written for the Varian Data machines 620/i. It decompiled assembler into MOL620, a machine-oriented language developed at University of California at Irvine by M.D.Hopwood and the author. The decompiler was tested with a large debugger program, Isadora, which was written in assembler. The generated decompiled program was manually modified to recompile it into machine code, as there were calls to interrupt service routines, self-modifying code, and extra registers used for subroutine calls. The final program was better documented than the original assembler program.

The main drawbacks of this research are the granularity of the control flow graph and the use of registers in the final target program. In the former case, Hopwood chose to build control flow graphs that had one node per instruction; this means that the size of the control flow graph is quite large for large programs, and there is no benefit gained as opposed to using nodes that are basic blocks (i.e. the size of the nodes is dependent on the number of changes of flow of control). In the latter case, the MOL620 language allows for the use of machine registers, and sample code illustrated in Hopwood's dissertation shows that registers were used as part of expressions and arguments to subroutine calls. The concept of registers is not a high-level concept available in high-level languages, and it should not be used if wanting to generate high-level code.

D.A.Workman, 1978

This work describes the use of decompilation in the design of a high-level language suitable for real time training device systems, in particular the F4 trainer aircraft [ Work78 ]. The operating system of the F4 was written in assembler, and it was therefore the input language to this decompiler. The output language was not determined as this project was to design one, thus code generation was not implemented.

Two phases of the decompiler were implemented: the first phase, which mapped the assembler to an intermediate language and gathered statistics about the source program, and the second phase, which generated a control flow graph of basic blocks, classified the instructions according to their probable type, and analyzed the flow of control in order to determine high-level control structures. The results indicated the need of a high-level language that handled bit strings, supported looping and conditional control structures, and did not require dynamic data structures or recursion.

This work presents a novel use of decompilation techniques, although the input language was not machine code but assembler. A simple data analysis was done by classifying instructions, but did not attempt to analyze them completely as there was no need to generate high-level code. The analysis of the control flow is complete and considers 8 different categories of loops and 2-way conditional statements.

References

Hals62 M.H. Halstead. Machine-independent computer programming, Chapter 11, pages 143-150. Spartan Books, 1962.

Hals67 M.H. Halstead. Machine independence and third generation computers. In Proceedings SJCC (Sprint Joint Computer Conference), pages 587-592, 1967.

Hals70 M.H. Halstead. Using the computer for program conversion. Datamation, pages 125-129, May 1970.

Sass66 W.A. Sassaman. A computer program to translate machine language into Fortran. In Proceedings SJCC, pages 235-239, 1966.

Hous73 B.C. Housel. A Study of Decompiling Machine Languages into High-Level Machine Independent Languages. PhD dissertation, Purdue University, Computer Science, August 1973.

Hous73b B.C. Housel and M.H. Halstead. A methodology for machine language decompilation. Technical Report RJ 1316 (#20557), Purdue University, Department of Computer Science, December 1973. Also published as [ HH74 ].

Holl73 C.R. Hollander. Decompilation of Object Programs. PhD dissertation, Stanford University, Computer Science, January 1973.

FS73 F.L. Friedman and V.B.Schneider. A Systems Implementation Language. ACM SIGPLAN Notices 8(9), pages 60-63, September 1973.

HH74 B.C. Housel and M.H. Halstead. A methodology for machine language decompilation. In Proceedings of the 27th ACM Annual Conference, ACM Press, pages 254-260, 1974.

Barb74 P. Barbe. The Piler system of computer program translation. Technical report PLR-020, Probe Consultants Inc., September 1974. Prepared for the Office of Naval Research, distributed by National Technical Information Service, USA. ADA000294. Contract N00014-67-C-0472.

Frie74 F.L. Friedman. Decompilation and the Transfer of Mini-Computer Operating Systems. PhD dissertation, Purdue University, Computer Science, August 1974.

Schn74 V. Schneider and G. Winiger. Translation grammars for compilation and decompilation. BIT, 14:78-86, 1974.

Bake77 B.S. Baker. An algorithm for structuring flowgraphs. Journal of the ACM, 24(1):98-120, January 1977.

Hopw78 G.L. Hopwood. Decompilation. PhD dissertation, University of California, Irvine, Computer Science, 1978.

Work78 D.A. Workman. Language design using decompilation. Technical report, University of Central Florida, December 1978.

Balb79 D. Balbinot and L. Petrone. Decompilation of Polish code in Basic. Rivista di Informatica, 9(4):329-335, October 1979.

Bert81 M.N. Bert and L. Petrone. Decompiling context-free languages from their Polish-like representations. pages 35-57, 1981.

May88 W. May. A simple decompiler. Dr.Dobb's Journal, pages 50-52, June 1988.

Cifu94 C. Cifuentes. Reverse Compilation Techniques. PhD Dissertation. Queensland University of Technology, Department of Computing Science, 1994. Also as compressed postscript.

Portions Copyright 1998 Cristina Cifuentes, All Rights Reserved.