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authorblasty <blasty@local>2026-07-25 23:49:14 +0200
committerblasty <blasty@local>2026-07-25 23:49:14 +0200
commit57b09047881d4bb42b2b98e4bb0739d5bc5e5af8 (patch)
treef55ca12add86873a875fe70cf318524fca694d95 /README.md
parentxrefs: show project binaries that import this export (diff)
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loading: say how to read a headerless blob (processor, base)
A raw firmware dump has no format to detect, so IDA fell back to x86 at address 0. It doesn't fail — it opens, analyses, and finds nothing. An AArch64 image loaded this way gave 0 functions; told the truth it gives 35. ida-tui fw.bin --processor arm --base 0x8000000 and per binary in a project, which is what a multi-image firmware actually needs: {"path": "app.bin", "processor": "arm", "base": "0x8000000"} idapro.open_database() already accepted IDA command-line switches; nothing was passing any. Plumbed BinaryRef -> WorkerPool -> WorkerClient -> worker argv, plus a load_args for the single-binary path that has no project ref. base is written the way people say it (0x8000000, int or string, any base). IDA's -b is in PARAGRAPHS — -b1000 loads at 0x10000 — so BinaryRef.load_args converts, and a base that isn't 16-byte aligned is refused rather than silently landing 16x off. ida_args passes anything else through. Two bugs found by testing the whole path rather than the happy one: * Project.load() whitelisted path/label when normalising entries, so the load options were dropped the first time a project was reopened — set a processor, come back tomorrow, it's gone. * Re-passing the switches to an EXISTING database makes IDA refuse the open (rc != 0, no functions). The .i64 already records how the image was loaded, so the worker skips them once a database exists. My first guard checked splitext(path) + ".i64" and never fired, because IDA names it "<file>.i64" — keeping the extension. It checks both spellings now. Verified on a real AArch64 blob: fresh load 35 functions based at 0x8002440, reopen 35 again, and the CLI rejects an unaligned or non-numeric --base. tests: +6 project (options recorded, paragraph conversion, file round-trip, add() takes them, an ELF passes nothing, hex-string base). 39/0 project, 195/0 scenarios, 30/0 project UI, 36/0 index, 27/0 pool.
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@@ -90,6 +90,19 @@ It uses `~/ida-venv/bin/python` for the TUI (override with `$IDATUI_PYTHON`) and
resolves binary paths against your real cwd. The binary's directory must be
writable (idalib writes a `.i64` there).
+Headerless blobs need to be told what they are — a raw firmware dump has no
+format to detect, and IDA falls back to x86 at address 0, which analyses to
+nothing:
+
+```sh
+./ida-tui fw.bin --processor arm --base 0x8000000
+```
+
+`--base` is a real address (IDA's own `-b` is in paragraphs; the conversion is
+done for you). In a project the options are recorded per binary, which is what a
+multi-image firmware wants. They apply to the first open only — after that the
+`.i64` records how the image was loaded. See `docs/PROJECTS.md`.
+
> Recovering a wedged database: if a worker was hard-killed it leaves unpacked
> `foo.id0/.id1/.id2/.nam/.til` next to `foo.i64`, and the `.i64` then refuses to
> reopen. Delete those stale files (never the `.i64`) and retry — `ida-tui` does