tim2CF

tim2CF

Is it possible to decompile BEAM files with :debug_info chunk to actual Elixir source code? This data is from :debug_info

iex(2)> Secret |> :code.which |> :beam_lib.chunks([:debug_info]) |> elem(1) |> elem(1) |> Keyword.get(:debug_info) |> elem(2) |> elem(1) |> Map.get(:definitions)
[{{:hello, 0}, :def, [line: 26], [{[line: 26], [], [], :world}]}]

And this is actual Elixir AST

iex(3)> quote do
...(3)> defmodule Secret do
...(3)>   def hello, do: :world
...(3)> end
...(3)> end
{:defmodule, [context: Elixir, import: Kernel],
 [
   {:__aliases__, [alias: false], [:Secret]},
   [
     do: {:def, [context: Elixir, import: Kernel],
      [{:hello, [context: Elixir], Elixir}, [do: :world]]}
   ]
 ]}

If it’s possible to transform :debug_info to AST - please write how, thanks!

Showing Posts 1 to 10

idi527

idi527

What would the use case for this? Maybe there is a simpler way to achieve what you want?

kokolegorille

kokolegorille

You might find this helpful

tim2CF

tim2CF OP

The idea is to create a analysis tool that will work with AST of Elixir program

cdegroot

cdegroot

The problem is that the transformation from Elixir to BEAM bytecode loses information. A simple example:

a = 1
a = 2

will result in bytecode somewhat like

a = 1
a1= 2

Because rebinding variables isn’t possible in bytecode, so Elixir fakes it. There are plenty of such examples. Decompiling BEAM bytecode to Erlang is fairly straightforward and precise, but getting back to the original Elixir AST is, I think, almost impossible. The simpler solution would be to just stash the AST in a BEAM segment (the format is pretty extensible so while I’m not sure whether this is already happening somewhere, I’m sure it is not too hard to do this).

Exadra37

Exadra37

At the time you wrote this it seems that was already possible with Dbgi chunk, that you can see the pull request for it here, and get some more background from this 2017 Jose video:

But I may be misunderstanding something, because compilers and AST’s are not my thing :wink:

olafura

olafura

My project works with a lot of code but not all code:

Marcus

Marcus

I have also done some experiments with the BEAM file. See the little beam_file project.

With BeamFile you can create byte, erl, and elixir-code (with the limitation discussed here) from the beam file.

Example:

defmodule Example.Math do
  @moduledoc "Math is Fun"

  def add(number_a, number_b), do: number_a + number_b

  def odd_or_even(a) do
    if rem(a, 2) == 0 do
      :even
    else
      :odd
    end
  end
end
iex> {:ok, code} = BeamFile.elixir_code(Example.Math)
iex> IO.puts(code)
defmodule Elixir.Example.Math do
  @moduledoc """
  Math is Fun
  """

  def add(number_a, number_b) do
    :erlang.+(number_a, number_b)
  end

  def odd_or_even(a) do
    case(:erlang.==(:erlang.rem(a, 2), 0)) do
      false ->
        :odd

      true ->
        :even
    end
  end
end
huylong9999

huylong9999

Hello dear friends. hope you can help me.
I have some .beam files I want to decompile into .erl files (source code)
How can I do this. Please help me, I will thank you.

olafura

olafura

It depends on if the beam file includes the AST or not. Try this:

I believe there are some mechanisms in the compiler to turn the beam bytecode into Core Erlang if you just want to deduce the logic similar to an decompiler

olafura

olafura

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