Can you decompile then recompile somthing to Linux?

[Radikll]

Hi, I'm a little new to linux, but I would really like to know if decompiling and recompiling to linux is possible.
All I want to do is decompile a windows program and recompile it on linux. I know that the original prgram was coded in c++. I don't really care what language it is decompiled to but the more readable it is the better. I know a lot of decompilers will produce Assembly code this is fine as long as it can be recompiled on linux.

Before like 100000 people tell me to look for a linux equivalent, let me tell you that there is no linux equivalent. This is my last resort. I can't get the developer to make a linux port and to top it off he doesn't even give a good reason. All he says is "Linux sux." I'm not the only person that wants this I have about 4100 people on a petition, but he still says "Linux sux." If this doesn't work... I don't think we'll ever get a linux port.

I found some decompilers would you recommend any of these:
RelicNews Forums - LUA Decompiler: CFLuaDC 1.00
Boomerang Decompiler
REC Decompiler Home Page

Sorry for the long post any information will be appreciated.

[GNU-Fan]

I can't get the developer to make a linux port and to top it off he doesn't even give a good reason.

Haha, proprietary software at its best

@topic:
The application can't be just disassembled and reassembled to make it magically run on another operating system. Even it there was a way to decompile it, you had to change so much that you could write it from scratch likewise. I say, forget about this approach.

If you really can't find or write a substitute, I recommend to resort to Wine.

[Radikll]

Damn!

...I recommend to resort to Wine.

Yeah but wine really sucks. It slows everything down and lags.

If you really can't find or write a substitute,...

He would probably just release a update that would brake it He's an ass hole like that.

BTW I'm talking about Gmod. Garry won't release Linux Binaries for the server client. It's so stupid! Every other game has Linux server binaries!

Read this: Can we get some Linux love? - Facepunch Studios
My petition: Steam Community :: Group :: We want LinBins4Gmod!

[i92guboj]

Hi, I'm a little new to linux, but I would really like to know if decompiling and recompiling to linux is possible.
All I want to do is decompile a windows program and recompile it on linux. I know that the original prgram was coded in c++. I don't really care what language it is decompiled to but the more readable it is the better. I know a lot of decompilers will produce Assembly code this is fine as long as it can be recompiled on linux.

If the program is closed source, and the author is not willing to release the source, then reverse engineering the software to decompile it is -more than probably- an illegal activity on most countries. However, that should be specified in the License for the product, I don't know about that mod/game whatever it is, so look at the documents of the product.

Before like 100000 people tell me to look for a linux equivalent, let me tell you that there is no linux equivalent. This is my last resort. I can't get the developer to make a linux port and to top it off he doesn't even give a good reason. All he says is "Linux sux." I'm not the only person that wants this I have about 4100 people on a petition, but he still says "Linux sux." If this doesn't work... I don't think we'll ever get a linux port.

It's his opinion, and it's on his right to refuse. I don't share his view of the matter, but I must respect it if I want to be respected. He can decide what to do with his time, and what OS and languages to use. His also on his right to keep it closed as well and if the source is his own, no one can really force him to release it or give it to someone else to do the work for him.

Anyway, and now I am talking about the technical aspect, what you want to do is not trivial. At most, you could get an assembly listing, unfortunatelly, there's no way that dos/win asm is going to work in linux, because, in first place, there's no way to use interrupts in linux. At most, you could emulate them by using things like v86d or similar things. There are lots of differences, not that it's impossible, but it's certainly not something I would feel like doing.

[foodini]

I'm curious as to why nobody has inquired about what it is that the app does - it's possible there is a linux app out there that will do what you need it to. I have to set aside my own take on the issue of why one should/shouldn't release an app for linux for the moment or I'll be here all day.

What I am posting to say is that I have recently installed Sun's VirtualBox. Granted, I was running a virtual ubuntu installation on a windows machine, but I have been led to believe that the windows installation under linux is every bit as easy. The only thing I've not verified there is whether you can run as an administrator in a simulated environment. I would assume that this is one of the problems of virtualization that Sun has solved here.

What is it that you're trying to run? VB (what an unfortunate collision of acronyms) might be able to handle it for you.

-foodini

PS - I can't resist. In my industry, Linux has given itself a bad rap: whenever an application is released, it seems that there is such a contingent of Linux believers that software _should_ be free, and therefore, our app is fair game for piracy - that it has kept us out of the market entirely. I once worked on a project that shipped a linux port, sold only about a thousand copies, but had > 100x that many machines report back to our servers. A 100-to-1 piracy rate does not encourage business to enter your market. Just my two bits' worth. My nod of respect goes out to our earlier poster for his mature attitude on the decompilation issue...

[i92guboj]

PS - I can't resist. In my industry, Linux has given itself a bad rap: whenever an application is released, it seems that there is such a contingent of Linux believers that software _should_ be free, and therefore, our app is fair game for piracy - that it has kept us out of the market entirely.

As you say, it's just a contingent. It's by no means the nature of linux users (at least, not on a bigger proportion that you could fin between windows users). Generalizations are bad. Most linux users think that the software should be free (as in freedom, which is not equivalent to "being available without any charge"). But that is not incompatible with the fact that most linux users abide licenses, much more than windows users do (where in fact piracy has it's biggest bed).

That I don't agree with the license of a product doesn't mean I endorse pirating it. I don't, and most linux users do not either. If I am not ok with what you try to sell to me, what I must do is not to buy it, and leave everyone else make his/her own decision about the fact. And serious forums like this one forbid on their rules that kind of topics, and most users, like I did, will warn the rest of the users on the forum if they think that the topic could evolve into something illegal. Something that's not that commonly seen on *some* windows forums, by the way, where piracy is discussed in an open form without any problem.

I once worked on a project that shipped a linux port, sold only about a thousand copies, but had > 100x that many machines report back to our servers. A 100-to-1 piracy rate does not encourage business to enter your market. Just my two bits' worth. My nod of respect goes out to our earlier poster for his mature attitude on the decompilation issue...

Thanks. I know it's not an easy topic, and as I said, I fully respect the right of the owner of a given application to choose whatever bussines model and license suits him/her. It's a natural thing, and I might not agree with you about licensing models of choice, but I respect your right to do so, and that's what freedom (and free software in general) is about. Imposing "freedom" (and note the usage of quotations) that way is not any better than any other act of dictatorship, just like a communist dictatorship if not any better than a nazi regime.

One thing I highly dislike is when people start calling names each other, like the original poster did. That doesn't make his opinion any more valid or true.

The easiest and productive way would be the following, to make happy everyone: interested users pre-pay a given percentage, and the author promisses to port the program on a reasonable time. This way there's a compromise, and the author would know that there's a *real* 4000 users base.

Signed lists with 4000 users asking for me to do something without having the security that they will put their money where they put their voices is not appealing. So, that's the path that a constructive conversation should take (or a similar one).

That's my view.

[Radikll]

I'm not trying to steal or pirate the software. It's already free for windows. People have offered to buy the program if he would make it available for Linux.

The program is game server software.
Dedicated Server Setup - GMod Wiki - GarrysMod.com

He used to make Linux server software (lss), but when he updated to Gmod10 he stopped. The funny thing is that before Gmod10 he didn't sell the game, but he would make lss. Now that everyone has to buy the game, he decided not to make lss. It would be ok if he didn't make lss, but many Game Server Providers (GSP) don't support the game or charge twice as much as other games that have lss. It really doesn't make sense to me. He would make lss when the game was free but, doesn't now that we have to pay for it.

To be clear I'm only talking about the Server software not the game itself.