Reverse engineering tools

[Martin]

Hi,
I am trying to reverse engineer some software in C. Ideally I would
like to use a free program that would scan for function calls and map
the route of function calls in programs in a tree structure.

ie.

main() defined in a.c
|
----------------> init_comms() defined in b.c
| |
| -------> write_to_port() defined in b.c
|
----------------> start_state_machine() defined in f.c

... etc...

Example code

void main()
{
init_comms();
start_state_machine();
}

Does anyone know of any existing programs that can do this?

I have come across dOxygen, but I need a automatic diagramming tool to
aid visual clarity of the software flow, does any exist or will I have
to write one? I have called this Function tracing but im sure there is
a proper technical name for this process.

Thanks in advance,
Martin

 

[Dan Pop]

I am trying to reverse engineer some software in C. Ideally I would
like to use a free program that would scan for function calls and map
the route of function calls in programs in a tree structure.

What was your C language question?

Dan

 

[Martin]

What was your C language question?

Dan

Sorry Dan, you are right, it is off topic, not a C language question -
but this does have a lot of people on this newsgroup and I thought
people might not mind. Can you suggest an alternative newsgroup?

Sorry to offend,
Kind regards,
Martin

 

[Kieran Simkin]

Hi,
I am trying to reverse engineer some software in C. Ideally I would
like to use a free program that would scan for function calls and map
the route of function calls in programs in a tree structure.

ie.

main() defined in a.c
|
----------------> init_comms() defined in b.c
| |
| -------> write_to_port() defined in b.c
|
----------------> start_state_machine() defined in f.c

... etc...

Example code

void main()
{
init_comms();
start_state_machine();
}

This is *not* reverse engineering as I understand the term. If you have the
source, what are you trying to engineer out of it?

 

[Mike Wahler]

Sorry Dan, you are right, it is off topic, not a C language question -
but this does have a lot of people on this newsgroup

The number of participants here is irrelevant.
The topic is the C language.

and I thought
people might not mind.

Some might, others might not. Typically those in the former
category will be more 'vocal' about it.

Can you suggest an alternative newsgroup?

A few seconds with Google found
comp.software-eng

-Mike

 

[B. Gandhi]

I know of two such tools (I've not used them however), one is
Imagix 4D from Imagix Corp (http://www.imagix.com/products/products.html)
and Understand for C++ from Scientific Toolworks inc. (www.scitools.com).
You may like to have a look over 'em.

-BG

 

[Martin]

This is *not* reverse engineering as I understand the term. If you have the
source, what are you trying to engineer out of it?

We have the source and are tracking the procedure calls through it, to
find out what section of code calls what and how it works - thus we are
reverse engineering it, then we will re-engineer it improve the quality
of the code. It is poorly documented, thus a tool for procedure
tracking would have been useful. Job is now done, and references from
above replies have been helpful.

 

[Andy Green]

We have the source and are tracking the procedure calls through it, to
find out what section of code calls what and how it works - thus we are
reverse engineering it, then we will re-engineer it improve the quality
of the code. It is poorly documented, thus a tool for procedure
tracking would have been useful. Job is now done, and references from
above replies have been helpful.

Next time you have a question like this one use a name like Nicole,
Brianne, or tiffany, you getthe idea. You won't get any complaints
about posting to the wrong group..