.TKN file decompilation

maxifox

Could anyone please advise on how to restore the source code (in any form) from compiled .tkn file? My client lost the source code and the only thing left is the binary in the controller...

REBUILD_EVENT

This is not possible in any way as far as I know.

NMarkRoberts

maxifox wrote:

My client lost the source code

That's how we make a living...

vining

maxifox wrote:

Could anyone please advise on how to restore the source code (in any form) from compiled .tkn file? My client lost the source code and the only thing left is the binary in the controller...

I guess that means you're not the original programmer cuz otherwise you would have the file. Sounds like some one needs to make a phone call to the originator or start from scratch.

DHawthorne

If a decompiler exists, AMX never released it, and probably never will. That is, if it exists at all. One problem is of intellectual property; some of their partners have insisted their protocols remain proprietary, and AMX only distributes modules in the compiled form. They also do this with non-proprietary modules just to reduce support overhead. But either would be completely nullified if they released a decompiler: it would allow a level of reverse engineering that AMX is not about to make common. Anyone who wants to decompile an AMX program is on their own; I'm sure it could be done, but, frankly, it's easier to re-write.

maxifox

vining wrote:

I guess that means you're not the original programmer cuz otherwise you would have the file. Sounds like some one needs to make a phone call to the originator or start from scratch.

A phone call wont help because of severe tensions between the the contractor and his former employee - the original programmer. Unfortunately, neither the client nor the contractor did requested the source code at the beginning... The legal actions are unlikely too...

BTW, a good example for the management to have some disaster recovery planning (at least backup). A disgruntled employee might be a disaster...

maxifox

Got the official AMX reply on binary decompilation: "Unfortunately, there is no way to decompile the netlinx source code."

ericmedley

maxifox wrote:

A phone call wont help because of severe tensions between the the contractor and his former employee - the original programmer. Unfortunately, neither the client nor the contractor did requested the source code at the beginning... The legal actions are unlikely too...

BTW, a good example for the management to have some disaster recovery planning (at least backup). A disgruntled employee might be a disaster...

I won't go into details on this forum but we had a situation in which the old programmer was unwilling/unable to provide code for some systems he/she had done while employed at a business. It really got ugly.

However, AMX does have ethics standards that it enforces and will step into a situation such as the one you're describing.

I will say that the programmer I'm speaking of no longer has AMX credentials as a result of his/her actions. I'm not sure how they're making their living right now. Nor do I care to know.

You might give AMX a call and get them involved. It's amazing how pliant people get when their credentials are on the line.

Sensiva

Respectable

Ericmedley, What you said means , They are very respectable people, didn't know that they may do such a thing.

Anyway.... about decompiling, you guys gotta know, In Case OF... someone succeeded in decompiling the code, it won't be something like the original written code... But_eve, Level_eve..... NO WAY, it will be something like Assembly language, and you have to learn about the ColdFire Instruction Set to understand what the decompiled file is doing....... ToTaLLy PaiN IN Da BrAiN!!

So rewriting is the only way.....

But I wonder, If AMX system has been indirectly involved in a crime, and this is possible, How would the authority know about what happened if there is no Logs or Source code available????