Synthetic symbol table for 64-bit PowerPC
- Dominant language
- C++
- Stars
- 8.6k
- Forks
- 1k
- PR merge metrics
- No merged PRs in 30d
Description
64-bit PowerPC contains [function descriptor section .opd](http://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/ELF/ppc64/PPC-elf64abi.html#FUNC-DES). The real symbol address is not in the symbol table. To get to it, `.opd` needs to be used. GNU tools solve this by introducing _synthetic symbol table_. It looks like an ordinary symbol table, but symbol names are prefixed with `.` (dot), and values reference real addresses/offsets.
We will need this to create statically linked function patterns, and eventual decompilation of 64-bit PowerPC.
Contributor guide
No contributing guide indexed for this repository
Research direction
Start by reading the linked 64-bit PowerPC ELF ABI description and comparing how GNU tools expose synthetic symbols for the .opd section. Done means RetDec can represent dot-prefixed synthetic symbols whose values refer to the real function addresses or offsets, enabling statically linked function patterns.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- cpp
- Domain
- reverse-engineering
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100