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digitalmars.D - Accessing the symbol table of a mach-o file

reply Jacob Carlborg <doob me.com> writes:
I posted this message in the learn newsgroup without any response, I'm 
now hoping to have better response here.

I'm trying to access the symbol table of a mach-o file. I've managed to 
access the symbol table but I have two problems:

1. It seems I can't access the whole symbol table if I compare my output 
to the output of nm. For example, I have a global struct in the file I'm 
examining which doesn't show up in my output. I have a global class that 
does show up but not the methods in the class.

2. When I'm printing the string representation (accessed from the string 
table) of some of the symbols they don't seem to be complete. For 
example "inte" instead of "internal". Then the next symbol I print is 
the rest of the previous symbol.

This is the code I have so far, in some kind of pseudo code format:

header = the header of the mach-o file
cmd = cast(load_command*) (cast(byte*) header + size of header)

loop (number of load commands)
{
     cmd = cast(type of command) (cast(byte*) cmd + size of command)

     if (cmd == symbol table command)
         break
}

symbolTable = cast(nlist*) (cast(byte*) header + symbol table offset)
stringTable = cast(char*) (cast(byte*) header + string table offset)

foreach (entry in symbolTable)
{
     symbol = stringTable + string table index
     print symbol
}

Does anyone have any idea what I can do about the above two problems?
Mar 03 2010
parent reply KennyTM~ <kennytm gmail.com> writes:
On Mar 4, 10 00:02, Jacob Carlborg wrote:

 I posted this message in the learn newsgroup without any response, I'm
 now hoping to have better response here.

 I'm trying to access the symbol table of a mach-o file. I've managed to
 access the symbol table but I have two problems:

 1. It seems I can't access the whole symbol table if I compare my output
 to the output of nm. For example, I have a global struct in the file I'm
 examining which doesn't show up in my output. I have a global class that
 does show up but not the methods in the class.

 2. When I'm printing the string representation (accessed from the string
 table) of some of the symbols they don't seem to be complete. For
 example "inte" instead of "internal". Then the next symbol I print is
 the rest of the previous symbol.

 This is the code I have so far, in some kind of pseudo code format:

 header = the header of the mach-o file
 cmd = cast(load_command*) (cast(byte*) header + size of header)

 loop (number of load commands)
 {
 cmd = cast(type of command) (cast(byte*) cmd + size of command)

 if (cmd == symbol table command)
 break
 }

 symbolTable = cast(nlist*) (cast(byte*) header + symbol table offset)
 stringTable = cast(char*) (cast(byte*) header + string table offset)

 foreach (entry in symbolTable)
 {
 symbol = stringTable + string table index
 print symbol
 }

 Does anyone have any idea what I can do about the above two problems?


If the Mach-O file is from Mac OS X 10.6 or iPhone OS 3.1, your method 
won't work because the symbol table format is changed. See 
http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/releasenotes/DeveloperTools/RN-dyld/index.html.
Mar 03 2010
parent Jacob Carlborg <doob me.com> writes:
On 3/3/10 18:54, KennyTM~ wrote:

 On Mar 4, 10 00:02, Jacob Carlborg wrote:

 I posted this message in the learn newsgroup without any response, I'm
 now hoping to have better response here.

 I'm trying to access the symbol table of a mach-o file. I've managed to
 access the symbol table but I have two problems:

 1. It seems I can't access the whole symbol table if I compare my output
 to the output of nm. For example, I have a global struct in the file I'm
 examining which doesn't show up in my output. I have a global class that
 does show up but not the methods in the class.

 2. When I'm printing the string representation (accessed from the string
 table) of some of the symbols they don't seem to be complete. For
 example "inte" instead of "internal". Then the next symbol I print is
 the rest of the previous symbol.

 This is the code I have so far, in some kind of pseudo code format:

 header = the header of the mach-o file
 cmd = cast(load_command*) (cast(byte*) header + size of header)

 loop (number of load commands)
 {
 cmd = cast(type of command) (cast(byte*) cmd + size of command)

 if (cmd == symbol table command)
 break
 }

 symbolTable = cast(nlist*) (cast(byte*) header + symbol table offset)
 stringTable = cast(char*) (cast(byte*) header + string table offset)

 foreach (entry in symbolTable)
 {
 symbol = stringTable + string table index
 print symbol
 }

 Does anyone have any idea what I can do about the above two problems?


 If the Mach-O file is from Mac OS X 10.6 or iPhone OS 3.1, your method
 won't work because the symbol table format is changed. See
 http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/releasenotes/DeveloperTools/RN-dyld/index.html.


No, it's compiled and run on Mac OS X 10.5.7.
Mar 03 2010